UK politician fired amid controversy

A prominent politician and journalist embroiled in a controversy over the death of a British hostage in Iraq has been fired from senior posts in the Conservative Party.

A spokesman for Conservative leader Michael Howard said Boris Johnson had been sacked as the party's vice-chairman and arts spokesman because of articles about an alleged extramarital affair.

Relations between Johnson, 40, and Howard were strained after the Spectator ran an editorial by Johnson criticising the "extreme reaction" of people in Liverpool to the beheading of Ken Bigley, a local man kidnapped in Iraq.