Portrait of the Week – 10 September 2005

Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, flew off to China and appeared at a press conference with the Chinese leader, Mr Wen Jiabao, where it was said that there had been a resolution of the dispute over European Union import quotas, which had seen 80 million items of clothing of Chinese manufacture piling up at docks. Mr Wen said that Mr Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, had spent a ‘sleepless’ night on the matter; next year’s quotas are to be cannibalised, although this requires agreement from each EU country. Petrol rose above £1 a litre. Twenty-four new companies were given licences to explore for oil off the coast of Britain. The search for a new leader of the Conservative party became bogged down in a ballot on the method to use, while Mr Kenneth Clarke, a declared candidate, beamed at an ICM poll commissioned by BBC2 that found 40 per cent of respondents said they favoured him.