A former Conservative chief whip launched a brutal attack on David Cameron's leadership qualities yesterday as the recriminations intensified over the party's dismal local council election results.

A baby wallaby has made her home in a zoo keeper's rucksack after being found outside her mother's pouch.

Bedfordshire Police said a Renault articulated lorry was on the M1 southbound at around 3.30am, when it was in a crash with two other lorries.

In towns and cities across Britain, diners queue up for their very own local delicacies, from the parmo to the Bedfordshire Clanger. Will Dean took to the road to get a taste of them.

The Attorney General's Office is reviewing the sentences of two child rapists who were jailed for just 40 months for attacking an 11-year-old girl.

I don't sound Welsh enough for my liking. My name might suggest a sonorous voice suited to performing at the Eisteddfod or auctioning cattle in Abergavenny, but I've got a nondescript southern accent that could come from anywhere within a 70-mile radius of London. It actually comes from within a seven-mile radius of Luton: the dialectological equivalent of magnolia paint. I suppose I could affect a Welsh accent, but that would make me look even more desperate for attention that I already do, and I'd probably sound like Nick Clegg doing a bad impression of Gandhi.

A man died after he was assaulted at a New Year's Eve party, police said.

Holiday travellers had to contend with snow and ice as the Great Christmas Getaway began yesterday – and more of the same weather is expected this weekend.

Transport Secretary Justine Greening has demanded more of the high speed rail line be buried under ground. The minister will this week announce a delay in the final decision for the £32bn, 100-mile project, after asking officials to examine ways of mitigating the impact of the HS2 line on the countryside.

Lights are to be permanently switched off on one of Britain's busiest sections of motorway, the Highways Agency said today.

Three police investigations involving a man who was tortured and killed were "flawed", the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has said.

Almost a quarter of high streets in the UK are failing, it was reported today, as a gap grows between the best and worst town centres.

There were no routes, passengers or even a qualified driver yesterday as Boris Johnson steered the new London bus around a test ground near Bedford.