Portrait of the Week – 1 February 2003

Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, decided to fly to Camp David for talks with President George Bush of the United States about the war against Iraq. Mr Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said: ‘The Iraqi regime is responding to resolution 1441 not with active co-operation but with a consistent pattern of concealment and deceit.’ The Financial Times-Stock Exchange index of the top 100 companies fell on 11 consecutive days of trading to its lowest for seven years, losing 49.8 per cent of its value at the peak reached on 30 December 1999. The banking group Cazenove postponed plans to float on the London Stock Exchange. The Fire Brigades Union held another 48-hour strike; Mr John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, said he would introduce legislation to enable him to specify pay and conditions for the firemen. A London Underground train was derailed at Chancery Lane station on the Central line when a motor became detached; more than 30 were injured, though none seriously, but 625,000 passengers a day found that line and the Waterloo and City line closed indefinitely.