Saturday, July 31, 2010

JEFF POWELLS BOXING COLUMN: Audley goes from Fraudley to Honest Harrison on an additional turn in the Last Chance Saloon

Audley Harrison has reappeared in Britain. He came not only from his home in America but out of denial.

The Englishman who should have trained on from Olympic gold to the world heavyweight championship arrived in London ready to admit his mistakes and confront his failings.

And at 38, Harrison concedes that there can be no excuses and no coming back if he fails in his long overdue challenge for a serious title on April 9.

Audley Harrison promotes the fight against Albert Sosnowski

Coming for your belt: Audley Harrison (left) with Albert Sosnowski

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01_03/bn_jeffpowellringheroes_308x76.pngHoward Winstone

IT took nothing less than a hero to keep fighting the best in the world, again and again, with boxing"s equivalent of one hand tied behind his back... until he eventually won the world title he craved.

Step forward the one and only Howard Winstone.

So heroic was he that in 2005, five years after his premature death at the age of 61, he was voted "The Greatest Citizen of Merthyr Tydfil" on the occasion of his Welsh home town"s centenary.

It was while working in a toy factory there that he lost the tips of three fingers, an industrial accident which robbed him of virtually all the punching power in his right hand.

Howard Winstone

Underthe guidance of his much-loved manager and trainer Eddie Thomas hedeveloped a piston of a left jab as he moved from an amateur careerclimaxed by a Commonwealth Games gold medal into the professional ranks.

Withthat one weapon and his elusive defensive skills he relied on winningon points rather than by knockout, as he did to defeat the popularTerry Spinks for the British featherweight title.

Gallantryon the epic scale came with his three challenges to legendary Mexicansouthpaw Vicente Saldivar for the unified WBC and WBA featherweightchampionship of the world.

Thousandsof Welshmen came by train to Paddington in 1965 to join we Londoners inwatching their favourite "boyo" box brilliantly to extend Saldivarthrough 15 close fought rounds at Earls Court.

Thatbrave defeat did not subdue Winstone. In 1967, Cardiff"s Ninian Parkfootball ground was packed to see him take Saldivar the distanceagain... only to lose once more.

Undeterred,he dared to venture into the even bigger arena of Mexico City"s AztecaStadium later that same year. Given the home support of some 90,000fellow countrymen, Saldivar knocked down Winstone twice before Thomasended an epic trilogy by throwing in the towel in the 12th round.

Butout of respect for the courage of his great rival Saldivar retired,leaving the way clear for Winstone to fight, and outpoint, MitsunoriSeki for the vacant titles the following January. Saldivar crossed theAtlantic to be at ringside at the Royal Albert and lead the cheeringfor a victory over-flowing with Anglo-Welsh emotion.

Winstone"sown career came to an end six months later on home soil in Porthcawlwhere, in his first world championship defence, he was knocked downtwice by Jose Legra before losing his world crown to a fifth-roundstoppage.

Theaffection for him never ended and his MBE was followed by the unveilingof his statue at the castle in Merthyr. Given modern technology perhapsthey should upgrade that to a mobile figure.

Afterall, this was the hero who adapted so brilliantly to boxing with onegood hand that the Welsh used to say of him: "Howard could dodgerain-drops in a thunderstorm."

Harrison goes to London"s AlexandraPalace that night to meet not only Poland"s Essex based Europeanchampion Albert Sosnowski but also his destiny.

This man seems to spend most of hislife in boxing"s Last Chance Saloon but there are few more glamorousexamples of that venue than the five-star Dorchester Hotel in which heheld court on Monday.

Beneath those West End chandeliershe took his dismissive nickname of "Fraudley" on the chin, saying: "Iknow that"s what people call me but they also say I"m a powder-puffpuncher. Yet I would argue that there"s a difference between theperception and the reality.

"Look at my record: 19 knockouts in 26 wins."

It is the four defeats, however, which trouble his critics.

In the 10 long years ofunderachievement since he won his Olympic medal in Sydney, Harrison hasbeen ignominiously outpointed by Danny Williams, Dominick Guinn,Michael Sprott and Martin Rogan... not exactly a catalogue of world-class heavyweights.

He says that those setbacks have"Been an advantage because they force me to go back all the way down tothe wreckage of my lost years on the seabed and rebuild my ship on thestronger materials of character and determination."

Harrison never fails to talk a goodfight but too often, until now, the biggest problem has come with theringing of the first bell.

However, this is the first time hehas fully faced up to the large question mark raised over whether hehas the heart of a real ring warrior.

By definition, he asserted himselfas a Prizefighter by winning the three-fights-in-a-night heavyweightseries on Barry Hearn"s tournament of that name in October.

As Harrison puts it: "That has enabled Barry to open the door for me for this European challenge.

"I know people havedoubted my heart, but what really happened was that it was broken by thecircumstances in which I lost the contract the BBC gave me when Iturned professional.

"I lost focus by trying to be my ownpromoter, losing sight of boxing while running a business. I also losttwo to three years of my career when I moved to America and disappearedinto a cloud.

"But now I"ve rediscovered my love of boxing. Watching theWinter Games on television has reminded me how I used to be part of thesoul of boxing when I was at the Olympics. Back then it wasn"t aboutthe money, it was purely sport. I come back now full of nostalgia forall that means.

Audley Harrison with Barry Hearn

Happy days: Harrison with Barry Hearn

"I don"t think anyone who knowsanything about this game questions that I have loads of ability. Thedoubts have concerned my mentality but I will prove in this fight thatdeep down I still have the will, the determination and, yes, the heartwhich enable me to win that gold medal while boxing with a badlydamaged hand."

Promoter Hearn promises that giventhe elevation to the top 10 in the world rankings which comes with theEuropean title, he will deliver to Harrison his dream of a world titlefight next time out.

"People do ask me why I"m stillpersevering," says Harrison. "Call me crazy but becoming world championremains my goal and I still know I can do it."

There have been mutterings of anall-British battle with David Haye but Audley is dismissive of hiscountryman, who defeated the Goliathan Nikolai Valuev.

"Where I live in the USthey have hardly heard of Haye," he says. "They remember me from the Olympics andask me what happened to Audley Harrison and whether I will ever fightone of the Klitschkos.

Michel Sprott knocks out Audley Harrison

Downfall: Michel Sprott knocks out Harrison in 2004

"Those brothers are the only champions theyrecognise so, to be truthful, while David and me would be a big sellerat Wembley Stadium, I would still have to go and beat either Vitali orWladimir to gain full world champion recognition."

More from Jeff Powell Boxing Column... JEFF POWELL"S BOXING COLUMN: Pacquiao post-script simply fascinates 22/03/10 JEFF POWELL"S BOXING COLUMN: Give it up! Roach refuses to help Hatton 15/03/10 JEFF POWELL"S BOXING COLUMN: Manny has Mayweather lost for words 08/03/10 JEFF POWELL"S BOXING COLUMN: Fights for the MTV generation? 01/03/10 JEFF POWELL: Mitchell, DeGale, Cleverly ... we can be kings of the ring 15/02/10 JEFF POWELL"S BOXING COLUMN: Mayweather staring at date with destiny 08/02/10 Jeff Powell boxing column: Carl Froch should show true mark of a champion 01/02/10 JEFF POWELL"S BOXING COLUMN: Haye needs to leave red carpet behind 25/01/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE

But isn"t time running out?

"I"m ayoung 38 without too many miles on the clock. I used to be the toughestkid off the block and now I"m strong again."

He will need to demonstrate that onApril 9 because the underrated Sosnowski is a forever training,perpetually fit and physically powerful 30-year-old with his own dreamto pursue.

After only two defeats in his 45professional bouts he, too, is hungry for a shot of the world title. Heis also renowned for throwing hundreds of punches in every fight, acontrast to Harrison"s more wary habits.

And now, as one of the 800,000 Polesestimated to be living in and around London, he expects his supportersto out-number Harrisons at the Alexandra Palace.

"After Chicago and Warsaw this is the third biggest Polish city in the world," he says. "My people know I am ready for the fight which will open up my career."

Harrison, who has become moreaccustomed to jeers than cheers from his fellow Londoners of late,makes a patriotic appeal for them to rally behind him at this criticalmoment.

"I"m going to open up my gym so as to reconnect withmy dormant supporters," he says. "This is about England v Poland and I want myfans to bring their flags and their whistles and help me through itwhen the going gets tough.

David Haye (right) lands on Nikolai Valuev

World champion: David Haye (right) lands one on Russian giant Nikolai Valuev

"I know that this will be a seriousbattle but in every way I will be 100 per cent this time and there willbe no excuses and no regrets if I falter again. It will be my skillsand my will against his and in case anyone is wondering, I know whichAudley Harrison will be turning up on April the 9th."

That has been the other question inthe last few years as we have watched Harrison betray his undoubtedtalent with his comparative timidity.

"I need people toremember that I am really a success story," he insists. "I came from a poorbackground and had no education yet I not only won Olympic gold, but putmyself through university."

It is not Harrison"s in-bornintelligence which has ever been in question. What his country waits tosee a few short weeks from now is whether, at last, he can apply it inthe prize ring with genuine ferocity.

Prizefighter is a knockout with fansBradley Pryce after defeating Marcus Portman

Pryce is all right: Hot prospect Bradley with Enzo Calzaghe

The Prizefighter phenomenon may not please the purists but this sudden-death challenge of winning three three-round fights in one night to pick up the big purse continues to draw sell-out crowds, many of them from a new audience of fans.

Britain"s light-middleweights take to Barry Hearn"s ring this Friday and all the seats for Bethnal Green"s historic York Hall were snapped up long ago.

Bradley Pryce, Welsh favourite to win the top cheque of 32,000, starts against Belfast"s Neil Sinclair. If the tournament goes to form, Pryce should meet young Prince Arron in the semi-final.

That, in theory, should lead to the climax for Pryce of a re-match with Leicester"s Martin Concepcion, who he beat to win the Commonwealth championship. But these unorthodox events invariably spring a couple of surprises.

Don"t have a ticket? Then tune in to Friday Fight Night on Sky Sports from 8pm.

Farwell Bernard, Ireland"s mythical world champion

Bernard Dunne has retired at the age of 30 having recently lost his world super-batamweight title... but still in possession of a curious place in boxing history.

There was nothing unusual in the Irishman being trained for glory by Freddie Roach at the American master-trainer"s Wild Card gym in Los Angeles. Roach does that all the time with fighters from all corners of the world, witness Manny Pacquaio and Amir Khan.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

League opens doors to early summer sales at Fratton Park Portsmouth

Nick Szczepanik & , : {}

Portsmouths administrators have been given permission by the Premier League to sell players before the summer transfer window as they attempt to raise money to ensure that the club are able to fulfil their fixtures.

However, any players sold to Barclays Premier League clubs will not be allowed to play for their new employers this season and Portsmouth will hope to negotiate lease-back deals with buyers that allow the players to see out the season at Fratton Park.

Players may be sold to a Football League or foreign club, subject to Fifas approval, a Premier League statement read. Portsmouth FC may enter into an agreement with another Premier League, Football League or foreign club that a player will be transferred to that other club in the summer.

The Premier League has made this unprecedented concession to help the club to stay in business partly because of its obligations to its members and partly to avoid the negative impact of one of its clubs going broke. Once Portsmouth accepted the deduction of nine points for entering administration, the League offered what assistance it could by entering negotiations for an advance of television money and parachute payments as well as making yesterdays announcement.

Related LinksPortsmouth face fine for rules breachPortsmouth deny Dowie happy returnPortsmouth"s magical minute breaks Hull

The difficulty is that other Premier League clubs may be reluctant to pay full market value for players who will not be able to represent them this season. It is also doubtful that many of the present bottom-of-the-table squad will prove attractive at the sort of prices that Portsmouth would like to realise.

Nadir Belhadj, the Algeria left back, is probably the most saleable asset, with a value near to the 4.4 million that Portsmouth paid for him in January 2009. Marc Wilson, the Ireland defender, and Kevin-Prince Boateng, the Ghanaian midfield player, are also possible targets, although Portsmouth will do well to get the figures of 4 million that have been mentioned.

John Utaka and David Nugent may also attract bids, but well below the 6 million that each cost the club in the summer of 2007. Tommy Smith could return to the Coca-Cola Championship for about 1 million, but David James, who turns 40 in August, is probably too old to net a large fee.

Just as well that Andrew Andronikou, the lead administrator, is not relying on the new opportunity. This has effectively given us an option if we need it, but at this moment I want to emphasise were not necessarily going to sell players, he said. Were in an FA Cup semi-final, which were looking forward to, and thats given us working capital to play with.

A Premier League statement read: The Premier League Board meeting that convened last week to consider the administration of Portsmouth FC dealt with a number of matters beyond just the application of the sporting sanction (deduction of nine points).

In accordance with Premier League rules, postponement of the suspension of Portsmouth FC as a member Club was conditional on a number of undertakings being given by the administrators. These have now been received to the satisfaction of the Board and therefore it has decided to allow Portsmouth FC to make player sales under the following circumstances:

1. Players may be sold to other Premier League Clubs but may not play first team football for the new club before the end of the season.

2. Players may be sold to a Football League or foreign club, subject to Fifas approval.

3. Portsmouth FC may enter into an agreement with another Premier League, Football League or foreign club that a player will be transferred to that other club in the summer.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Chatsworth reopens to open with muster among 14m restoration

Will Pavia & , : {}

The man who pronounced the elite was passed stood in the yard of Chatsworth House yesterday sunrise carrying the sort of review each desirous homeowner has with their builder. So, how prolonged will this take? the 12th Duke of Devonshire inquired, nodding at the replacement work that has incited the mill of the good residence from yellow and black to primitive grey.

The reply was since with an countenance that dates behind over all the dukes of Devonshire, roughly to the commencement of history. Oooohhhh, pronounced the builder, sucking the air by his teeth. Hmmm, he added. A couple of some-more weeks, I would have thought.

The count was station in the surrounded by of a residence built by the man who gained the dukedom for the Cavendish family as a prerogative for his grant to the Glorious Revolution. The second proviso of a fourteen million replacement plan at Chatsworth, nearby Bakewell, Derbyshire, is due to finish this weekend. On Sunday it will free to the public, and all over the residence paintings were being carried on to walls, fate hung and chandeliers assembled.

It is utterly tough to hold that titles meant really small among such appetite and grandeur, but the count takes a unsentimental perspective of such adornments.

Times Archive, 1927: The Gardens of Chatsworth

For an opening price of a shilling all-comers were free to ramble over the gardens, that for extent, accumulation and beauty are roughly predominant in England

In pictures: Chatsworth House gardens to be non-stop to the open Related LinksAristocracy is dead, says Chatsworth"s dukeDeborah Devonshire: the flourishing Mitford sister

Asked either it is piece of his avocation to perform the open by maintaining his title, that he has pronounced he would happily drop, he says: Maybe. But Simon Howard is called Mr Howard, and runs Castle Howard. It doesnt appear to have the palace any less of a success for that.

As for the nobleness of his predecessors, he suggests there might be small disproportion in between them and the billionaire businessmen who have risen on top of the British elite on Forbes abounding list. This residence was predominantly built to show off, he said. The initial count commissioned hulk golden letters on the side of the residence that visitors would see first. They pronounced Cavendo Tutis, the family motto. It equates to reserve by counsel as well as being a fool around on the family surname. What he was fundamentally observant was Cavendish lives here. Its no opposite from Donald Trump.

The count and duchess gave a preview debate yesterday morning, heading the approach up a gigantic moody of stairs. Good exercise, if you do it five times a day, pronounced the duke.

He led the approach in to what was once the room of the 6th duke. The walls and roof overflow with Roman soldiers clutching seductive half-naked women, a hulk fresco of the rape of the Sabines. Some people find it a bit of an peculiar room to nap in, he said.

There is a new art studio clinging to Georgiana, mother of the 5th duke, the seductive luminary of 18th-century high society, finish with multiform hundred tools of her huge vegetable collection. Another is clinging to Lord Burlington (of Arcade fame), whose estates and art collections were engrossed in to the Cavendish family by his daughters matrimony to the 4th duke.

The benefaction dukes mother, the 90-year-old Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, has her own exhibition, with a Renoir on show, early functions of Lucian Freud and an Elvis phone. There is additionally a special book of one of Evelyn Waughs books since to her by the author, with vacant pages to equivocate the worry of essentially carrying to review it.

The muster runs until Oct 31.

hair wig

Fast-speed trains are a possibility to revitalise the stations Stephen Bayley

Stephen Bayley & , : {}

The railway had no precedent. Its attainment caused a reduction of insanity and dismay. George Godwin, the Victorian architectural reformer, spoke of the unique goodness, whilst Ruskin despaired since it broken nature. And a new construction sort was introduced: the station. At initial they did not even have a name for it. The strange was the Liverpool Railway Office.

If you investigate a Victorian map of London, the good stations see similar to spermatozoa tentatively perspicacious an egg, trailing at the back of them lines stretching in to faraway provinces. It was not possibly to run marks in to the bustling centre of the collateral so, when they were new, Euston and St Pancras, for example, were in steer of fields.

But afterwards these stations catalytically generated their own cities inside of a city. As the slag settled, the transformations began. The railway companies construed their terminals as advertisements as well as places where the sight stops, so each had an pithy character: the no-nonsense practicality of Kings Cross, the pretension fantasy of St Pancras or the vaguely Frenchified Victoria portion the channel traffic of the day.

And as scenes of attainment and departure, a embellishment of hold up itself, the good stations acquired romance. You listen to Rachmaninovs Piano Concerto No 2 and you think of Carnforth, Lancashire, with the steam swirling about a weepy Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter. And has there ever been a improved pretension than Elizabeth Smarts By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept?

BACKGROUNDAdonis sum 30bn high speed rail networkHigh speed rail network to cost twenty billionEuston: we have an architectural complaint

But in the second half of the last century British Rail and the successors consumed a good estate and longed for a good opportunity. Cack-handed philistines needlessly demolished Eustons Doric physical condition and built a charmless shed. Kings Cross is still defaced by a preposterously clumsy Seventies extension. But the latter abhorrence is, at last, being private in the desirous KX2.0 growth by the designer John McAslan and will be assimilated to the former to have Europes largest ride hub.

The desuetude of hire design in the past 60 years, magnets for vagrants and sell crapola, was a effect of a flitting breakthrough with the fad of air transport and the autocracy of the car. Now these can be seen as delusions: we are solemnly coming the destiny by fast train.

Can the new high-speed stations recapture any of the intrigue so calamitously lost by the pudding-faced suits who ran the old BR? Not if, similar to the airports, they are run as selling malls. Nearly 200 years ago railways altered attitudes to time and space: there is a metaphysics of timetabling. And they altered the figure and character of cities with dauntless and strange architecture. Thats the event again.

hair wig

Monday, July 26, 2010

Babcock since Apr twelve deadline for VT bid

Angela Jameson & , : {}

Babcock International has been since until Apr twelve to have a bid for VT Group, the counterclaim services provider, or travel afar from the association for 6 months.

The Takeover Panel done the put up or close up statute currently after representations from VT, that has right away left out dual demonstrative proposals from Babcock. The former naval shipbuilder is holding out for an suggest of at slightest 775p a share.

Babcock, that services naval ships, has already increasing the worth of the suggest to 680p-715p. Its initial approach, on Feb 15, valued VT, a provider of precision to the Royal Navy, at 634p a share.

Both approaches have been deserted since VT believes that a multiple of the dual businesses would be strategically unsound.

Related LinksVT plans payout to frustrate Babcock bidBabcock bids �1.1bn for opposition VT Group

Analysts at Numis have pronounced that VT should hold out for an suggest of 775p a share, but Citigroup analysts hold that Babcock should not go on top of 715p in the deficiency of some-more synergies.

Babcock done a warn proceed to VT a fortnight ago, charity to buy it for �1.25 billion, after VT done a bid for Mouchel, the await services company, and appeared to be scheming to take the association in a poignant new direction.

Paul Lester, arch senior manager of VT, has discharged the offer, observant that Babcock is perplexing to buy it on the cheap.

Investors with shareholdings in both companies have called for Babcock to be means to see at the books. A Babcock takeover would emanate a FTSE 100 services powerhouse with operations in defence, engineering and chief power.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, that is the third-largest shareholder in both groups, pronounced that a multiple of the dual groups could emanate poignant shareholder value. Invesco, the largest shareholder in VT, has urged it to hold out for 750p a share.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

General Motors triples Vauxhall investment oath Business

GM bits plans to sell Vauxhall

Ed Whitacre, arch comparison manager of General Motors, pronounced that it is critical for GM to denote joining to the European operations. Photograph: David Jones/PA

General Motors currently voiced a critical investment in the European carmaking operations, together with Vauxhall in the UK.

The US association denounced a €1.9bn (£1.7bn) package for Opel/Vauxhall, some-more than trebling the prior investment pledge.

Opel/Vauxhall arch comparison manager Nick Reilly pronounced at the Geneva Motor Show that the move was a opinion of certainty in the firm"s long-term commercial operation strategy.

The association has cut jobs opposite Europe in new months, together with hundreds in the UK at the Luton outpost plant, nonetheless the Ellesmere Port car bureau where Astras are done has not been hit.

Reilly said: "GM"s €1.9bn joining is the right march of movement for Opel/Vauxhall and should obviously vigilance the integrity to repair the business.

"Our call for the one more appropriation was authorized by GM"s comparison supervision and upheld by the GM house of directors. Meanwhile, we have common this preference with the European Commission as well as the inhabitant and state governments involved.

"We goal that the clever joining will be well perceived as a critical miracle in the ongoing discussions about supervision guarantees to cover the superfluous gap.

"We severely worth the much-increased await from GM, quite since the high-priority final on their liquidity, not slightest the restructuring of GM"s North American operations and coping with a invariably diseased marketplace in North America."

Ed Whitacre, arch comparison manager of General Motors, added: "It is of critical significance for GM to denote the joining for the European operations.

"Beyond the quite monetary aspects, we see this as a critical step towards instilling renewed certitude and certainty in to Opel/Vauxhall"s customers, employees, commercial operation partners, unions, dealers and European governments."

More than 8,000 jobs are being cut opposite Europe, together with around 360 in Luton.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Gordon Brown "very upset" about claims he is a bully, says Ed Balls Politics

Gordon Brown and Sarah

Gordon and Sarah Brown. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Gordon Brown was "very upset" about claims that he was a bully, his close fan Ed Balls pronounced today.

The children"s cupboard part of pronounced he discussed the bullying row with the budding apportion yesterday and Brown felt "hurt" by the claims that had been done in a book by the Observer publisher Andrew Rawnsley.

Earlier today, Sarah Brown intervened in the debate about the impression of her husband, dogmatic that he was a "strong, industrious and decent man".

The counterclaim of Brown came as a Guardian/ICM check showed the Conservative lead over Labour had been cut to usually 7 points, with the bullying row display no distinct outcome on the ratings.

Balls, a long-time crony of the budding minister"s, rallied to his counterclaim on BBC Radio 4"s Today programme.

The children"s cupboard part of said: "I have well well known Gordon Brown for twenty years. At no point has it ever occurred to me that Gordon Brown is, or has ever been, a bully.

"I think it"s something that privately he feels really dissapoint about since he knows there"s no law in these allegations."

Balls pronounced that he did not think the allegations would repairs Brown politically since the open could accept that he was "tough", but not a bully. "He"s ardent and he"s a personality and he"s got that sort of strength of impression and drive. That"s what you wish in a leader," Balls said.

"If you pronounced to the open "What do you think of Gordon Brown?", they would contend he is tough, they would infrequently be undone by the approach he speaks on television. I have never listened a singular basic contend Gordon Brown is a bully."

Sarah Brown interviewed on GMTV

This sunrise the budding minister"s mother shielded him in an speak with GMTV. "Gordon"s the man that I know and the man that I love," she said.

"People have listened me speak about him and they probably know all that I would have to contend about him. I know him as a strong, hard-working, decent man and he isn"t anything else. What you see is what you get with him."

Lord Sugar, the Apprentice star who was done a counterpart and allocated craving tsar by the budding minister, additionally shielded Brown this morning.

"When you cruise the pressures that the budding apportion is underneath ... it is extraordinary how he has managed to constrain himself on so most occasions," Sugar told GMTV.

"Do you wish a little pliable sort of chairman who is only not going to have any suggestion about them or do you wish someone who has got a bit of glow in their belly, who will react, who will get a bit romantic sometimes? That is not bullying as far as I am concerned."

Balls, Sugar and Mrs Brown done their comments after the cupboard secretary, Sir Gus O"Donnell, denied that he had ever warned Brown about working in a bullying or intimidatory manner.

And, in his initial remarks since the allegations broke, Brown told the Economist: "The cupboard cupboard part of has done it transparent that he"s had no inquiries, there"s been no reprimand, there"s been no in isolation summary to me …[The] story is utterly wrong."

Yesterday Lord Mandelson, the commercial operation secretary, went on the descent by claiming the Tories were at the back of the attempts to allegation the PM. He indicted Conservative press officers of using reporters towards the National Bullying Helpline owner Christine Pratt in the arrogance that she had "some fuel to throw on this fire".

The Tories denied this, observant Mandelson was perplexing to "smear" Pratt by poorly portraying her as a domestic stooge.

John Prescott, the former emissary budding minister, went further, accusing David Cameron of contracting "the greatest brag in the world" as his communications director: Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World.

The rejection by O"Donnell is the third and broadest he has since since Rawnsley, the Observer"s arch domestic commentator, wrote that the cupboard cupboard part of had been so uneasy by Brown"s intimidatory poise towards staff that he gave him "a pep talk" and told him "this is no approach to get things done".

Rawnsley, in his book The End of the Party, that the Observer is serialising, asserts that O"Donnell, after creation inquiries about reports that staff in Downing Street had been intimidated, took it on himself to "try to ease down fearful avocation clerks, really bad treated with colour phone operators and alternative painful staff by revelation them: "Don"t take it personally.""

Brown"s spokesman, vocalization on seductiveness of the cupboard secretary, pronounced O"Donnell longed for it well well known that he had "never lifted concerns with the budding apportion about working in a bullying or an intimidatory demeanour in propinquity to No 10 staff, let alone since him any sort of written warning". The budding minister"s orator did contend O"Donnell had "spoken to the budding apportion about how the polite use could most appropriate await the government".

O"Donnell has taken dual days to have this extended denial, but even right away his phrasing is not indispensably all at contingency with Rawnsley"s account.

Rawnsley hinted at the strength of his sourcing by essay on Twitter that his source "could not be better". Sir Jeremy Heywood, Downing Street"s permanent secretary, wrote to staff observant he was certain No 10 had an open culture.

The Conservatives and the Lib Dems have called for an exploration in to the allegations, but O"Donnell ruled out an exploration by Sir Philip Mawer, the polite menial obliged for the ministerial code.

David Cameron described the part as "another indecorous disaster at the fag-end of a supervision that is sleepy and discredited".

O"Donnell might have to difficult out a barbecuing from a cross-party organisation of MPs on Wednesday if he is to say that there is zero to investigate.

The cupboard cupboard part of is due to crop up in front of the probity name cupboard and Conservative part of Andrew Tyrie told the Guardian that if O"Donnell had not simplified his on all sides prior to the hearing, he was deliberation severe him on the issue.

Tyrie said: "I think it is critical and in the open seductiveness that the cupboard cupboard part of should be since the event to explain what, if any, purpose he has played in this and, if I"m available by the chairman, I will [ask]."

This was upheld by an additional MP on the committee, Liberal Democrat David Heath, who pronounced O"Donnell should recollect his first faithfulness was to the polite servants in Downing Street rather than the domestic operation using No 10. Last night the head of the kinship representing comparison Whitehall polite servants called for a cross-party move to clamp down on bullying poise in government.