The Portugese prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho met last night with ministerial colleagues in order to stem a political crisis following the resignation of two ministers including the country's finance minister. His conservative coalition is under pressure to stick to the tough austerity targets dictated by Portugal's bailout.
During Prime Minister's Questions yesterday David Cameron repeatedly accused Ed Miliband, Leader of the Opposition, of being a puppet of the Unite trade union, following allegations that the union had engaged in underhand tactics to get a favoured candidate installed as the Labour party candidate to run in the Scottish constituency of Falkirk. Prospect's deputy editor was in parliament watching the loud exchanges, read his dispatch here.
Elsewhere, Ecuador has claimed that its officials discovered a covert listening device in its London embassy. The hidden microphone was found as the country's foreign minister visited the embassy on 16th June to meet Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living there to avoid facing sexual assault charges in Sweden.
In the UK, a former police chief accused of involvement with the cover up following the Hillsborough disaster is facing fresh allegations that he tried to influence the evidence of a witness speaking to the Macpherson Inquiry into Stephen Lawrence's death. Sir Norman Bettison, Assistant Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police at the time of the Macpherson Inquiry in 1998, has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
A former chief constable who was accused of involvement in a police cover up in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster is to be investigated over claims that he sought to influence the evidence of a witness to the Macpherson Inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence.
Sir Norman Bettison was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) by the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson.
