Being a special adviser at the heart of the Government is necessarily a privileged but hugely sensitive role. When Alistair Darling, then the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, asked me to be his special adviser in the Treasury in 2007 I had little idea of what was expected. There was no job description. It was a case of feeling my way, finding a modus operandi best suited to looking after his interests.

Vladimir Putin has named his new cabinet, retaining some of the outgoing government's key figures but adding a few fresh faces, and tightening his grip on power as he begins his third presidential term.

Thilo Sarrazin, the former Bundesbank member who caused outrage with his racist theories about Muslim immigration, has stoked fresh controversy with a new book claiming that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s European policy is motivated by German guilt for the Holocaust and World War II.

The 300 MPs elected in Greece's inconclusive May 6 ballot were sworn in today, including 21 from the right-wing Golden Dawn party.

Rather than wondering when Greece will renege on its debts and what the consequences would be, try the opposite question: what would have to happen for Greece to avoid default? The essential condition would be that the forthcoming general election would lead to the formation of a government capable of negotiating a less onerous refinancing deal with its eurozone partners. What is not widely understood is that such a Greek government would get a sympathetic hearing.

Some of the best headlines from the old expenses scandal were provided by a Tory MP, David Heathcoat-Amory, who lost his seat in 2010. It was not that his expenses were outstandingly large. He was one of the rare ones who claimed nothing for mortgage and rent on his second home. But he did claim for maintenance, which was his undoing, because the small print included 19 claims over three years for manure, at a total cost of £388.

The Chancellor is the pole around which disaffection organises itself

The Government is facing strong opposition in the House of Lords to its plan to impose a cap on tax relief on charitable donations.

The most humane outcome would be for Beijing to give up Mr Chen quietly

The Dutch caretaker government and opposition lawmakers said today that they are close to a deal on a provisional 2013 austerity budget, but the outcome was not yet certain.

Spending cuts are set to deepen by another £16bn as the Treasury orders Government departments to save 5 per cent of their budgets amid increasing pessimism about Britain's financial outlook.

The basic state pension could be taxed at source under a proposal that would fuel the pensioners' revolt against the "granny tax" announced in last month's Budget.

Madrid approves most brutal cutbacks since the Franco era as Europe boosts bailout fund

When George Osborne announced that he was abolishing child benefit payment for higher earners back in October, he told the Conservative annual conference: "A system that taxes working people at high rates only to give it back in child benefit is very difficult to justify."