Political Times: Corbyn-mania runs Labour wild and George Osborne reveals more cuts

Forget One Directioners or Taylor Swift-ites, this week Jeremy Corbyn-mania has taken hold of Westminster. A shock poll from YouGov put the socialist firebrand 17 points ahead in the Labour leadership race.

The survey has set off a mini-earthquake under the top of the Labour, and even prompted former Prime Minister Tony Blair to urge the Islington North MP's supporters to get a "heart transplant".

John Mills, Labour's biggest private donor, also intervened in the leadership race with an exclusive column for IBTimes UK.

The businessman wrote: "If he becomes Labour's leader, the party will clearly be vacating the political centre, where elections are won and lost, leaving the Conservatives in a dominant position to carry out their policies untrammelled by an effective opposition."

Well, we're going to have to wait until 12 September to see if the Labour faithful want the party to go left or not.

More cuts

Elsewhere, George Osborne has revealed that the government is looking for another £20bn ($31.1bn) of cuts.

The Conservative chancellor said he will outline the reductions in his spending review on 25 November.

The Treasury said the extra savings are needed to eliminate the UK's deficit by the end of the parliament in 2019/20.

"This spending review is the next step in our plan to eliminate the deficit, run a surplus and ensure Britain lives within its means," Osborne said.

"We'll invest in our priorities like the NHS and national security. Elsewhere in government, departments will have to find significant savings through efficiencies and by devolving power, so people have a greater say over the issues that affect them and their communities. We'll deliver more with less."

The chief secretary to the Treasury, Greg Hands, will now write to the government's ministries and ask the departments to draw up cost-cutting plans.

Chilcot Inquiry

Finally, the head of the civil service revealed that Sir John Chilcott "repeatedly refused" extra help with his long-awaited Iraq war inquiry.

Sir Jeremy Heywood told MPs that he had approached the inquiry chairman on the prime minister's request, after Labour's Paul's Flynn accused Heywood of 'washing his hands' of the report.

Heywood, speaking to the Public Affairs Committee, said: "We have repeatedly offered the inquiry extra resources, they say they don't need them – they are doing it as fast as they can," Heywood said.

But he stressed that Chilcot will complete the £10m report "as soon as he possibly can".