If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, what is it? That's right: it's a lame duck political party. It's Kadima.

This is the sorry state of Kadima now: on paper, it is the largest political party in the Knesset, but in reality has lost much of its electoral support to a resurgent Labour Party and newcomer Yair Lapid.

Tzipi Livni has lost her party's primary race and will be replaced by Shaul Mofaz as Kadima leader.

Mr Mofaz, a former army chief, won 62 per cent of the votes and will be in place to contest the Israeli general election in October 2013.

Ms Livni's defeat comes after she faced heavy criticism for her record as Opposition leader, despite Kadima's large proportion of Knesset seats.

Israeli journalist Yair Lapid has criticised the Kadima party as “a bunch of cynical politicians”.

Mr Lapid, who announced that he was planning to run for the Knesset at the next election, said there was no way he would join the centrist party, which is led by Tzipi Livni.

Israeli Opposition leader Tzipi Livni has visited Britain – but although her trip was billed as showcasing the change to the law on universal jurisdiction, it was in fact protected by an altogether different legal status.

Ms Livni met Foreign Secretary William Hague, at his invitation, at the Foreign Office in London last Thursday.

She was the first senior Israeli to visit Britain since th

Foreign Secretary William Hague has stepped in to ensure Israeli Opposition leader Tzipi Livni will not be arrested during her visit to Britain.

An arrest application was made to the Crown Prosecution Service on Tuesday to have Ms Livni detained when she arrived in London. She is currently on a two-day visit during which she is meeting community leaders and politicians.

Israel's Opposition leader has met the Foreign Secretary in London.

Tzipi Livni, in Britain for the first time since an anti-Israel group used the old universal jurisdiction legislation to apply for a war crimes arrest warrant for her, was at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office this morning for the meeting.

Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni is to visit Britain for the first time since she was prevented from doing so by pro-Palestinian activists nearly two years ago.

Ms Livni, the leader of the Kadima Party, has been invited by Foreign Secretary William Hague and is set to arrive on Wednesday.

The British government has approved the change in this country's universal jurisdiction law.

Nearly two years after Israeli Opposition leader Tzipi Livni was forced to cancel a trip to the UK when pro-Palestinian activists applied for a warrant for her arrest, the change was given the Royal Assent and became law.

The Guardian has admitted that it used a quote from Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni on the Palestine Papers in a “misleading” way.

The newspaper’s corrections and clarifications editor said Ms Livni's comment on the documents, released by Al-Jazeera last month, “was cut in a way that may have given a misleading impression”.