![Image]( "PM cracks jokes at awards ceremony")
Prime Minister David Cameron swapped political barbs for showbiz quips as he picked up a gong at the GQ Men of the Year awards.
He was joined at Tuesday night's event at London's Royal Opera House by a host of stars including actress Gemma Arterton and Doctor Who actor Matt Smith who both collected awards.
Smith, 27, came out of the Tardis to receive his prize, presented by artist Tracey Emin, for best actor. Quantum Of Solace and Capturing Mary star Arterton, 24, was named Woman of the Year at the ceremony, hosted by actor James Nesbitt.
In a light-hearted speech in front of guests, the PM took a jovial swipe at Wayne Rooney's recent troubles, his under-pressure communications chief and his own reputation as part of the "Brokeback" coalition.
Receiving the award for Politician of the Year from Sir David Frost, Mr Cameron apologised for not joining the guests for dinner. But he brought good news in the shape of England's 3-1 win in Switzerland.
"Wayne Rooney has scored and this time it's on the pitch, in the opponent's goal, actually playing for his country so I'm pleased to announce that," Mr Cameron quipped.
The Prime Minister said he had doubts over whether to attend the event, given that he so recently became a father again.
"I said to Andy Coulson - we are still speaking - I said to Andy, 'Look, I've spent the last week with someone who can't communicate, dribbles uncontrollably and is attached to the bottle every half an hour and he said 'you'll fit in perfectly'," the Prime Minister said.
Before leaving the stage, Mr Cameron turned to Sir David and suggested they had one thing in common - both had films made about their lives.
"Yours was, of course, the very successful Frost/Nixon and mine was, of course, Brokeback Mountain," he joked, adding: "And on that note I'd like to actually share this with Nick Clegg because he had the bravery to do the right thing."
A post-mortem on a baby girl found dead in a garden has proved inconclusive, police said.
The child, believed to be only one or two days old and of Asian appearance, was found dead in the front garden of a terrace house on Tinline Street in Bury, Greater Manchester, around 11.15am on Monday.
She was wrapped in a blue and white striped shawl.
Paramedics called to the house confirmed the baby had died.
The post-mortem examination showed the baby was born alive but died afterwards.
Further tests were being conducted to discover her age.
Det Supt Sam Haworth of Greater Manchester Police's Major Incident Team said: "We are more than 24 hours after the little girl was found and we are still no closer to identifying the mother.
"I understand that she must be extremely scared at the moment, but the most important thing is for her to get the necessary medical and psychological care she needs following this.
"I am appealing directly to the local community to come to us with any information you may have, what you tell us will be treated in the strictest of confidence."
A new inquiry into allegations that public figures had their phones hacked has been launched.
Keith Vaz, Commons Home Affairs Select Committee chairman, said it was acting after John Yates, one of Britain's top police officers, raised questions over the law as he gave evidence to the committee.
The inquiry will focus on the police response, the ease of prosecuting such offences, and the treatment of victims after it emerged the New York Times refused to co-operate with British police looking into allegations of phone-hacking made by the newspaper last week.
Mr Vaz said: "The evidence of Assistant Commissioner John Yates raised a number questions of importance about the law on phone-hacking, the way the police deal with such breaches of the law and the manner in which victims are informed of those breaches.
"I hope that this inquiry will clarify all these important areas."
The committee's inquiry will be the second time MPs have investigated the issues surrounding the 2007 convictions of News of the World reporter Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire for illegally intercepting the voicemail messages of Princes William and Harry.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport select committee previously described the "collective amnesia" of News of the World journalists when asked about their recollections of the time.
The Home Affairs select committee will focus on the "definition of the offences relating to unauthorised tapping or hacking in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, and the ease of prosecuting such offences".
It will also consider "the police response to such offences, especially the treatment of those whose communications have been intercepted" and "what the police are doing to control such offences".
A woman thrown head-first on to the concrete floor of a cell says she feels "let down" by the six-month jail term given to the police sergeant who attacked her.
Sgt Mark Andrews was caught on CCTV dragging Pamela Somerville, 59, across the floor of Melksham police station in Wiltshire before shoving her into the cell.
Ms Somerville was arrested in July 2008 after being found asleep in her car. She was detained for failing to provide a sample for a breath test but never charged.
After Andrews was jailed at Oxford Magistrates' Court, Ms Somerville said: "I've had two years of hell and he's got six months. He'll be out after three months.
"I feel let down by the sentencing but I don't feel let down by the police standards officers who investigated it. I think they did everything they could.
"It just seems a low sentence for what he did. I'm not sure it would have been the same if a member of the public did it."
Ms Somerville was taken to Royal United Hospital in Bath and needed stitches in a gash above her left eye.
She is now facing the prospect of an operation to save the sight in the eye.
Passing sentence, Deputy District Judge Peter Greenfield said Andrews had abused his position of trust and only a custodial sentence was appropriate.
He said: "In my view, you presided over an atmosphere of bullying and intimidation upon Ms Somerville which culminated in the cell later that morning."
Union leaders have clashed with London Underground over the impact of strikes which caused travel misery in the capital.
The Rail Maritime and Transport union said 24-hour walkouts over job losses were "solidly" supported and had crippled Tubes, leading to a "skeleton" service, or none at all on some lines.
And they are threatening more disruption in the coming months.
But Transport for London (TfL) maintained that well over a third of Tube trains ran despite the strike.
Commuters walked, cycled, shared a taxi or joined long queues for a bus to beat the action by members of the RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, who are protesting over plans to axe 800 jobs, claiming the cuts would affect safety.
Three further 24-hour strikes are planned to start from the evenings of October 3, November 2 and November 28, although it is likely that fresh talks will be held in a bid to avert more disruption.
Business leaders said the strike cost the economy almost £50 million, with firms paying for staff to stay in hotels, laying on alternative forms of transport, or allowing people to work from home.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow, who joined a picket line at Euston, said TfL's figures on the level of services were a "complete fabrication", adding: "They have claimed to be running a full service on lines where large numbers of stations have remained closed all day.
"It is time the Mayor instructed his transport officials to take this safety issue seriously, drop his cuts and open up meaningful negotiations with the unions over the future of a safe and secure Tube network."
London Mayor Boris Johnson cycled to the Stock Exchange in the City to speak at the opening session of the Capital Markets Climate Initiative as the effect of the strike took hold during the morning rush hour.
Motor company Kia is recalling some cars due to a door-wiring problem.
Kia Motors (UK) said it had discovered that in certain circumstances there is a very small danger of the wiring over-heating and that could, in turn, cause a fire.
The recall effects the owners of 73 Soul models and 476 Sorento KX-3 vehicles which feature mood lighting.
The cars being recalled were built between September of last year and June of this year.
Hamish McCowan, after-sales and logistics director at Kia Motors (UK), said: "We are very sorry for any inconvenience this causes our customers and we are not aware of any vehicles in the UK suffering this problem.
"But we believe it is better to be safe and that is why we are taking this recall action."
An American-born banker whose multimillion-pound pay rewards fuelled anger against the banking sector has been named in the top job at Barclays.
Bob Diamond will take over from chief executive John Varley in March after a 14-year spell with Barclays that has seen him turn its investment banking arm from scratch into a business so large it generates more than 80% of the bank's total profits.
The 59-year-old, one of the world's richest bankers, will be paid a £1.35 million annual salary, up from the current £250,000, and stands to receive potential bonuses worth another £10 million.
In a day of upheaval in the banking sector, HSBC executive chairman Stephen Green also announced plans to step down in favour of a role in David Cameron's government. Mr Green, who has been chairman since 2005, will replace Lord Davies, the former Standard Chartered boss, as Trade Minister.
Mr Diamond said he was "honoured" to take on the new role, but the move is likely to enrage some politicians and union leaders. Many consider Mr Diamond - with an estimated worth of £95 million - to be the epitome of the excessive bonus culture.
Although he waived his bonus last year after widespread criticism of bankers, he received £26 million for his shares in Barclays Global Investors, the bank's fund management business, when it was sold to America's BlackRock.
Mr Diamond was criticised in April by politicians including Lord Mandelson and Vince Cable when it was claimed he received £63 million under a reward scheme.
In his new role, Mr Diamond will receive an annual bonus of £3.375 million on top of his salary, as well as a long-term performance-based incentive worth up to £6.75 million.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said the appointment was "insulting", adding: "These are the bankers who caused the recession sticking two fingers up at the taxpayers who rescued them.
"This is about as insulting and divisive as it gets. A person who poured petrol on the flames of the fires in the financial system has been rewarded rather than been punished for what he did."
Nearly three-quarters of Britons think a traditional retirement will no longer be possible in the future, a survey has indicated.
Seven out of 10 people said they did not think it would be possible for future generations to stop work completely and live off their pension for 30 years, according to research carried out for BBC Newsnight.
Around 72% of people who are still in work also said they were worried that they would not have amassed sufficient funds to have the retirement they wanted when they were older.
Just over three-quarters of those questioned thought younger people would get a worse deal when it came to pensions than those currently approaching retirement, and 54% thought this was unfair.
The survey comes after the Government announced earlier this summer that it was planning to scrap the default retirement age, making it easier for people to work on past the age of 65.
It also plans to raise the age at which people can begin claiming their state pension more rapidly than the previous government had intended to.
But despite these changes, half of those questioned said they still expected to have retired by the time they were 66, with 18% expecting to have stopped working by 75.
Just 8% of people said they did not think they would ever retire.
Jeremy Black, professor of history at the University of Exeter, said younger people who had not yet retired were having to adjust to a "dramatic change in fortunes".
He said: "The relationship between the generations has been transformed. Whereas it used to be the case that up-and-coming generations tended to be more prosperous then their parents, now we're going be in reverse."
The Government has warned hundreds of thousands of people facing demands for back-tax that they have little chance of escaping payment.
Treasury minister David Gauke said those affected by a HM Revenue & Customs blunder should not "build up their hopes" that appeals will succeed.
The intervention came as HMRC started sending out nearly six million letters to individuals who have paid too much or too little income tax. Around 4.3 million people are due a rebate, but some 1.4 million will have to hand over an average of £1,428 each.
Experts said people hit with an unexpected tax demand may be able to refuse to pay up as HMRC could have exceeded its own time limits in which to ask for the money.
Under tax rules, HMRC must issue demands for underpaid tax within 12 months of the end of the tax year in which it became aware that people had underpaid. But if people provided all the information needed to get their tax code right, HMRC should have used these details within 12 months of the end of the tax year in which it was received to claw back the extra money.
If HMRC failed to do this, taxpayers can ask for an Extra Statutory Concession, also known as an ESC A19.
The latest round of errors date back to April 2008, meaning anyone who alerted HMRC to changes in their circumstances that affected their tax code before the start of the new tax year in April 2009 may be able to cite this clause. But Mr Gauke insisted experience had show that "very few" appeals against payment demands succeeded.
"Of course the Government is very keen that everybody who is in a position of having underpaid their tax is treated sympathetically," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"Our experience is that, because this issue is not entirely new - it is the fact that there are underpayments every year with the PAYE system - our experience is that very few of those appeals succeed. Some do and we do not deny that, and we are looking to see how that process can operate.
"But I don't want people to build up their hopes too much and think that there is a sort of panacea. The fact is most of these appeals are unsuccessful."
The courage and sacrifice of those who fought off the Nazis to win the Battle of Britain has been remembered.
On the 70th anniversary of the day the first German bombs fell on London, 2,500 people packed into St Paul's Cathedral to remember the Blitz spirit.
The service remembered all those who contributed during the Battle of Britain with former pilots and other military personnel standing alongside firefighters, nurses and ambulance workers from the era.
The Duke of Kent and the Lord Mayor of London, Nick Anstee, were among the dignitaries who joined the remembrance event at the cathedral which survived the Blitz and became a symbol of British defiance.
The Duke took the royal salute outside the cathedral after the service as air cadets and current servicemen and women joined veterans for a parade.
Onlookers packed the streets to watch while office workers crowded by windows to catch a glimpse of the Dakota, Spitfire and Lancaster aircraft which flew overhead.
The UK and Ireland are among the top 10 most charitable countries in the world, a study has revealed.
Experts analysed people's generosity through financial donations and volunteering time in order to produce the rankings.
The research also found that happier people were more likely to give money to charity than those who were wealthy.
Ireland came joint third with Canada in the Charities Aid Foundation's World Giving Index, while the UK tied in eighth place with Sri Lanka.
CAF used data from a Gallup survey on the charitable behaviour of the populations of 153 countries, which asked respondents whether they had given money to charity, given their time or helped a stranger in the last month.
The survey also asked people to rank how happy they were with life on a scale of one to 10.
Researchers from CAF compared the strength of the relationship between giving with a nation's GDP and the happiness of its population and found the link between well-being and giving was stronger than the link between wealth and giving (a correlation of 0.69 compared with a correlation of 0.58).
Adults in the UK were the third most generous in terms of giving money, with 73% of the population having donated to charity.
Less than a third (29%) had volunteered their time, more than half (58%) had helped a stranger and the country's happiness score was 5.6, CAF said.
Australia and New Zealand topped the index in the study, which CAF said was the largest of its kind.
Thousands of jobs are at risk as social housing firm Connaught prepares to go into administration.
The group's board said it was in the process of appointing KPMG administrators for the main company and its subsidiary, Connaught Partnerships Limited.It is understood they will be formally placed into administration on Wednesday.
However other subsidiaries including Connaught Compliance, National Britannia Holdings, Fountains Limited and Connaught Environment Limited, will continue to trade as normal. The debt-ridden Exeter-based repair and maintenance specialist has been in turmoil since warning in June that Government spending cuts could blow a £200 million hole in revenues over this year and next.
Since July, bosses at Connaught have been in discussion with its lenders and other potential financiers in a bid to keep the company afloat.
But these initiatives "failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion in the time available", a statement from the board read.
As a result it became "clear that sufficient support would not be extended to the group as a whole to enable it to continue trading as a going concern".
The firm started life in 1982 as a concrete repair specialist in Sidmouth. It provides services to the environmental, social housing, public sector and compliance markets.
Around 10,000 people are employed by Connaught, with around 180 multi-million-pound social housing contracts in the UK.
Until their suspension yesterday, the company's shares had fallen by more than 90%.
It followed a warning in June that it had identified 31 projects where spending will be delayed as a result of austerity measures, wiping £80 million off revenues and £13 million from underlying profits in this financial year.
Prime Minister David Cameron swapped political barbs for showbiz quips as he picked up a gong at the GQ Men of the Year awards.
He was joined at Tuesday night's event at London's Royal Opera House by a host of stars including actress Gemma Arterton and Doctor Who actor Matt Smith who both collected awards.
Smith, 27, came out of the Tardis to receive his prize, presented by artist Tracey Emin, for best actor. Quantum Of Solace and Capturing Mary star Arterton, 24, was named Woman of the Year at the ceremony, hosted by actor James Nesbitt.
In a light-hearted speech in front of guests, the PM took a jovial swipe at Wayne Rooney's recent troubles, his under-pressure communications chief and his own reputation as part of the "Brokeback" coalition.
Receiving the award for Politician of the Year from Sir David Frost, Mr Cameron apologised for not joining the guests for dinner. But he brought good news in the shape of England's 3-1 win in Switzerland.
"Wayne Rooney has scored and this time it's on the pitch, in the opponent's goal, actually playing for his country so I'm pleased to announce that," Mr Cameron quipped.
The Prime Minister said he had doubts over whether to attend the event, given that he so recently became a father again.
"I said to Andy Coulson - we are still speaking - I said to Andy, 'Look, I've spent the last week with someone who can't communicate, dribbles uncontrollably and is attached to the bottle every half an hour and he said 'you'll fit in perfectly'," the Prime Minister said.
Before leaving the stage, Mr Cameron turned to Sir David and suggested they had one thing in common - both had films made about their lives.
"Yours was, of course, the very successful Frost/Nixon and mine was, of course, Brokeback Mountain," he joked, adding: "And on that note I'd like to actually share this with Nick Clegg because he had the bravery to do the right thing."
David Cameron is set to be quizzed over the newspaper phone-hacking row that is threatening to engulf his communications chief.
The Prime Minister is expected to be tackled on the explosive issue when he faces questions in the Commons for the first time since parliament returned from its summer break.
The pressure on key Number 10 aide Andy Coulson mounted again on Tuesday when the Home Affairs Select Committee launched a fresh inquiry into allegations that News of the World reporters hacked into public figures' phones while he was editor.
Chairman Keith Vaz announced the move after senior Scotland Yard officer John Yates indicated he was likely to speak to Mr Coulson as he considers whether to reopen the police probe.
And former NotW reporter Ross Hall told Wednesday's Guardian he is willing to testify. Mr Hall was named in a previous inquiry as the man who transcribed hacked voicemail messages.
Mr Coulson always denied any knowledge of the illegal eavesdropping, for which the NotW's ex-Royal Editor Clive Goodman and a private detective were jailed in 2007.
But one of his former reporters, Sean Hoare, reignited the row last week by publicly claiming his boss had been aware of the activities.
Downing Street insisted Mr Coulson's position is not under threat, and Mr Cameron - just back from paternity leave - is expected to mount a staunch defence of his aide today.
However, Labour MPs are set to try to capitalise on the furore by questioning the Tory leader's judgment in recruiting Mr Coulson as his top media operative.
Business Secretary Vince Cable is set to signal tough curbs on government investment in scientific research.
Mr Cable is to warn that "mediocre" projects face being stripped of funding as the coalition tries to do "more for less".
He will also urge universities to find ways of earning money from their research in order to make up for limits on public spending.
Delivering a speech in west London on Wednesday morning, Mr Cable is to stress that the government "values" UK science and research and spends £4.3 billion a year supporting it. But he will hint that the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), due next month, is likely to squeeze the resources available.
"There is a school of thought which says that Government commitment to science and technology is measured by how much money it spends," Mr Cable will say. "Money is important both for the quantity and quality. But it is an input, not an output, measure. We could do more for less. It would be wrong to measure only how much money is invested in scientific research as a mark of our commitment."
Setting out the coalition's strategy for funding science, the Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister will say he supports top-class "blue skies" research.
"The big scientific ideas that changed the world were often far removed from practical, let alone commercial, applications," he is to insist. "But there is no justification for taxpayers' money being used to support research which is neither commercially useful nor theoretically outstanding. My preference is to ration research funding by excellence. We back researchers and research teams of international quality regardless of where they are and what they do, and screen out mediocrity."
Mr Cable will say that "transforming research into innovation" by linking research institutions to business is crucial.
Creating a network of Technology and Innovation Centres, similar to the system operating in Germany, could contribute to that goal.
"Universities make only 5% of their externally earned income from patents and licensing. More needs to be done," he is to say. "It is not a case of ditching scientific research that doesn't offer an immediate economic benefit. But I do think we need to do more to ensure that we reap the benefits of research."
Many tenants continue to have their lives blighted by rogue landlords despite laws designed to protect them, a housing charity has said.
Shelter said it had found evidence that a minority of landlords in the private rented sector were mistreating their tenants, or letting out properties unfit to live in.
It said 90% of environmental health officers who dealt directly with private tenants had encountered landlords who harassed or illegally evicted their tenants.
Nearly all of the environmental health officers said they had come across landlords who persistently ignored their responsibilities, while 90% had encountered cases of severe damp or mould in properties in the past year, or electrical or fire safety hazards.
Half of the officers questioned said they thought the main reason private landlords let unsafe properties was to make as much money as possible, while the same proportion believed problems in the sector would get worse next year.
Six out of 10 environmental health officers also said more than half of the cases they dealt with involving rogue landlords also involved people from vulnerable groups.
One officer said he had visited a property which had no heating, hot water or electricity.
Another officer was involved in a case where a mother and her young child lived in a property with no kitchen facilities, no fire precautions and only a halogen heater to heat the whole property.
But despite the problems they had encountered, 51% of environmental health officers said a lack of staff was preventing them from prosecuting more rogue landlords.
Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: "It is simply not acceptable that people are handing over their hard earned cash to live in houses that are run-down, squalid and in some cases even dangerous."
The failure to offer obese patients weight-loss surgery is costing the wider economy hundreds of millions of pounds every year, leading surgeons have said.
The financial toll of unemployment, housing and incapacity benefit, hospital admissions and prescriptions is increasing every year but could be cut dramatically if people were given surgery, they added.
The direct cost of obesity and related illnesses to the NHS is £4.3 billion a year and millions more to the wider economy in England.
The report, from the Royal College of Surgeons, National Obesity Forum and health firms Allergan and Covidien, said thousands of patients are missing out on surgery, pushing costs higher.
NHS trusts are not following guidelines set down by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which say people with a body mass index (BMI) over 40, or between 35 and 40 if they also have a condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure, are eligible for surgery.
Experts calculated that if 5% of eligible patients were given weight-loss surgery, the gain to the economy within three years would be £382 million.
If 25% were granted surgery, the gain within three years would be £1.3 billion.
The Government could also expect savings in benefit payments of £35 million to £150 million as people head back to work, the study said.
If Nice guidance was followed, direct NHS cost savings would be around £56 million a year.
Taking these figures into account, experts argued that weight-loss surgery effectively pays for itself within a year.
Tube services were returning to normal on Wednesday after a 24-hour strike that caused travel misery in London.
The Rail Maritime and Transport union said the walkouts over job losses, which ended at 9pm on Tuesday, were "solidly" supported and had crippled Tubes, leading to a "skeleton" service, or none at all on some lines. And they are threatening more disruption in the coming months.
But Transport for London (TfL) maintained that well over a third of London Underground trains ran despite the strike.
Commuters walked, cycled, shared a taxi or joined long queues for a bus to beat the action by members of the RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, who are protesting over plans to axe 800 jobs, claiming the cuts would affect safety.
Three further 24-hour strikes are planned to start from the evenings of October 3, November 2 and November 28, although it is likely that fresh talks will be held in a bid to avert more disruption.
Business leaders said the strike cost the economy almost £50 million, with firms paying for staff to stay in hotels, laying on alternative forms of transport, or allowing people to work from home.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow, who joined a picket line at Euston, said TfL's figures on the level of services were a "complete fabrication", adding: "They have claimed to be running a full service on lines where large numbers of stations have remained closed all day. It is time the Mayor instructed his transport officials to take this safety issue seriously, drop his cuts and open up meaningful negotiations with the unions over the future of a safe and secure Tube network."
London Mayor Boris Johnson cycled to the Stock Exchange in the City to speak at the opening session of the Capital Markets Climate Initiative as the effect of the strike took hold during the morning rush hour. He said the staffing proposals were "moderate and sensible" and accused the unions of "cynically deciding to try the patience" of commuters.
Mike Brown, LU's managing director, said everything was done to keep as many Tube services operating as possible, adding that the city was not paralysed.
"The RMT and TSSA leaderships have chosen to disrupt Londoners for no good reason. The safety argument they now deploy - which has never been raised in any formal forum - is completely without foundation. It is simple scaremongering designed to mask their wish to strike. Londoners will doubtless find it incredible that the two union leaderships are pursing this action when they have been given cast-iron assurances that the staffing changes we are making come with no compulsory redundancies, that every station that currently has a ticket office will retain one, and that every station will remain staffed at all times."
Anti-war campaigners will stage a protest on Wednesday outside a museum where former prime minister Tony Blair is expected to attend a party to mark the launch of his new book.
Mr Blair was meant to be at a high-profile signing session of his memoir at a book store in central London at lunchtime but it was cancelled amid concerns over planned protests.
Instead Mr Blair will appear on ITV's This Morning sofa with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby to talk about his book.
After cancelling the book signing the ex-premier said he did not want to subject the public to the "inevitable hassle" protests would cause or use up police resources keeping order at the event.
Campaigners against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will demonstrate outside the Tate Modern gallery where they expect Mr Blair and scores of specially invited dignitaries to attend a party.
Kat Phillips, one of the artists helping to organise the protest this evening, said: "It is disgusting that an institution at the heart of British culture should have allowed this event to take place. Mr Blair says he takes responsibility for destroying Iraq but in fact does nothing but celebrate the war."
Lindsey German, national convener of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "It's a stain on the reputation of Tate Modern to host a gathering of war criminals."
A spokesman for Tate Modern said: "Tate is not staging a launch for Tony Blair's new book. Tate's galleries are available for hire by companies. These events are private and details are confidential."
Eggs and shoes were hurled by protesters and one attempted to make a citizen's arrest when Mr Blair signed copies of the book, A Journey, in Dublin last weekend.
An independent review of the UK's controversial extradition laws is due to be announced by the Home Secretary.
Theresa May is expected to say the review will focus on the extradition treaty between the UK and the United States and the operation of US arrest warrants.
It follows widespread concern that the system is biased against Britain and comes after a series of high-profile cases, including that of Gary McKinnon, the alleged hacker wanted by US authorities.
Tory MP David Davis said: "It is excellent news that the Government is going to review extradition arrangements with the United States and the European Union, and in that review assess the balance of effect and provision of justice in the Gary McKinnon case."
Authorities in the US want the 43-year-old, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, to stand trial for hacking into secret military computers.
Mr McKinnon, from Wood Green, north London, says he was looking for evidence of UFOs.
Mr Davis said that, and a number of other cases, "show how ill thought out some aspects of these agreements are".
"This review should also incorporate the proposed European Investigation Order which has further scope for unintended miscarriages of justice in which British citizens are penalised for actions which are not breaches of British law," he said.
Earlier this week, Mrs May was urged to address concerns over the extradition treaty between Britain and the US.
Tory Tony Baldry said concerns over the workings of the Extradition Act were not helping to reinforce the "mutual trust" between the two countries.
An alliance of Arab nations around the Persian Gulf has called on Britain to expel Bahraini Shia opposition figures charged with plotting to overthrow that country's government.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said it wants Britain to deal seriously with what it calls terrorist groups and refuse refuge to those threatening their countries.
Hassain Meshaima of the HAQ movement and Saeed Al-Shehabi of the Bahrain Freedom Islamic Movement live in London.
They are among the top leaders of a group of 23 Bahraini activists accused on Saturday of forming a terrorist network and trying to topple the country's Sunni-dominated government.
Another 250 Shia activists were arrested in the crackdown that followed a series of Shia-led protests accusing the government of discrimination that turned violent.
The tension comes a month before elections for parliament, where Shias hold more than 40% of the seats.
The Gulf Cooperation Council is made up of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.
On Tuesday, Bahrain's top Shia clerics called on the government to release the activists, saying their detention and the government's refusal to resolve their grievances through dialogue would only feed violence.
"We fear that the insistence on denying dialogue means the situation will continue to be ruled by violence, aggravation, radicalism and emotions, which will ultimately lead to bad and damaging results," the country's six top Shia clerics said in a statement.
Shias are a majority in Bahrain, but the tiny Gulf island is ruled by a Sunni royal family.
