Portrait of the Week – 25 February 2006

A clause to criminalise the ‘glorification’ of terrorism, which had been removed from the Terrorism Bill by the Lords, was reinstated when the Bill was passed in the Commons by a majority of 38, with only 17 Labour MPs voting against the government. Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said after the vote, ‘The type of demonstrations that we saw a couple of weeks ago, where I think there were placards and images that people in this country felt were totally offensive, the law will allow us to deal with those people and say, “Look, we have free speech in this country, but don’t abuse it”.’ A High Court judge ruled that the General Medical Council should not have struck off Professor Roy Meadow for having given mistaken evidence as an expert witness that resulted in the conviction of Sally Clarke for murdering her two children, a conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal; expert witnesses had immunity from action by professional bodies, the judge ruled. The Prince of Wales dropped attempts to stop publication of a witness statement by Mr Mark Bolland, his former private secretary, on behalf of the Mail on Sunday, against which the Prince had brought an action to prevent further details from his private journal appearing. Mr Bolland said that Prince Charles ‘often referred to himself as a “dissident” working against the prevailing political consensus’. The Prince had instructed him to tell the press that he was boycotting a state banquet given in London by President Jiang Zemin of China; Sir Michael Peat, the Prince’s principal private secretary, told the court, ‘I am informed by him that he gave no instruction to draw the media’s attention to his failure to attend that banquet.’ British Gas increased prices by 22 per cent. The FA Cup final on 13 May will be played in Cardiff because the new stadium at Wembley will not be ready in time.