Portrait of the Week – 17 May 2003

Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, resigned on the pretext that the Prime Minister had broken his assurances that the UN would be more involved in the reconstruction of Iraq. Mr Blair, she told the Commons, should start thinking about resigning himself and prepare for ‘an elegant succession’. Within half an hour, the Prime Minister had appointed Lady Amos to Ms Short’s job, suggesting that he had been preparing to sack Ms Short anyway. An IRA hitman called Alfredo Scappaticci, said to be head of the organisation’s ‘nutting squad’, was alleged to have been helping British intelligence for years under a codename ‘Stakeknife’ or ‘Steak Knife’. Mr Scappaticci later denied it. Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, unveiled new outfits for judges, which make them look like priests. The Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, described mediaeval historians as ‘ornaments’ and suggested that the state should no longer pay for their activities. The Conservative party promised to drop tuition fees and cut the number of university places.