Mandy and Hu He leave M&S’s customers to catch a cold in the High Street

The long line of young women outside Marks & Spencer, arms folded modestly across their chests as they wait for their brassieres to arrive, is a standing rebuke to the European Single Market. Even Peter Mandelson, now installed as commissioner in charge of trade, is talking of a glitch. It is, in fact, the by-product of some clumsy diplomatic bluff and counter-bluff with Hu He, the Cantonese manufacturer and underclothier to the world.