Asked about the credit card summit and whether the political parties were profiting from credit card companies, the PMS said that questions in relation to the behaviour of political parties were best addressed to the political parties themselves. Asked if the Prime Minister thought it was wrong for political parties to profit from 20% interest on a credit card, the PMS said that the Prime Minister...

Congratulations to Julia Gillard, new leader of the Australian Labor Party and Australia’s first woman Prime Minister. Welsh pride can also take a boost as Gillard was born in Barry Island, near Cardiff, where she lived until moving to Australia the ripe old age of four. When it comes to furnishing the world with Prime

I see that Australia is considering a US request to re-settle inmates from the Guantanamo Bay military prison camp, but is unlikely to take any detainees,  Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said today. Gillard said Australia had been approached along with Britain to accept inmates to help US President-elect Barack Obama meet a promise to close the camp in a US enclave on Cuba. But Australia...

During a ceremony to mark the country’s annual Australia Day celebration in Canberra, Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was forced to flee the event surrounded by police and bodyguards after being besieged by angry protesters demanding aboriginal rights. Supporters of aboriginal rights in Australia refer to the annual event marking Australia’s creation as ‘Invasian Day...

Julia Gillard becomes Australia's first female prime minister after Kevin Rudd stands aside from a Labor Party leadership ballot.

  What is the Queen’s secret? She seems to defy political gravity. Right now, an English monarch is in Australia being feted by her subjects, who seem delighted by this very un-modern constitutional arrangement. Paul Keating, the former Prime Minister of Australia, recounts in The Times today the time he advised the monarch to let go. “I told the Queen as politely and gently ...

Political parties perform important roles in European societies. Parties are institutions in which citizens with similar political views organise, develop political programmes and actively participate in the political process. They are vital for democracy because parties offer the most clear-cut political choices that are put to the electorate. Parties are also recruitment organisations, through w...

Australia’s 27th prime minister is not only the first female holder of the office, but also only the second foreign-born PM. Like the first, Billy Hughes, she is Welsh. Ironically, Wales has now produced twice as many prime ministers of Australia as it has of the UK, of which it remains a constituent part. However, Julia Gillard makes little of her heritage. ‘I always knew, growing up,...

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron locked horns over the economy yesterday, as the main parties intensified their efforts to draw clear genera

I am a loyal Conservative; very loyal, in fact, and I support the work of David Cameron specifically as Prime Minister and the Tory-led coalition generally. They are a much better government than Labour could ever have formed. However, tonight, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have made a big mistake and even loyal Conservatives have to say this. This morning, the Cable story (I though...