The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 16 April 2005

A speedy round-up of the week's news

In the Conservative manifesto, six pledges designated as ‘the simple longings of the British people’ appeared in facsimile handwriting: ‘more police, cleaner hospitals, lower taxes, school discipline, controlled immigration and accountability’. Details included an undertaking to match Labour spending on the NHS, schools, transport and foreign aid, while spending 1 per cent less in total each year. Labour gave six ‘pledges’ of its own: an inflation target of 2 per cent and mortgages as low as possible; a million more homeowners by the end of the Parliament; a million more people helped by the New Deal; 300,000 apprenticeships to be created; minimum wage to rise to £5.35 per hour; education spending to rise to £5,500 per pupil a year by 2008. The Labour manifesto, 23,000 words, against the Tories’ 6,600, included an undertaking to do away with hereditary peers, again. Mr Tony Blair said this election would be ‘my last as leader of my party and Prime Minister of our country’; commentators tried to see what leeway that left him. A poll by Mori for the Financial Times found that nine out of ten finance directors thought Labour would increase taxes on business. MG Rover went into administration, shooed on by the government, which then gave the administrator £6.5 million for a week’s wages while a last-ditch appeal was made to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. Equitable Life took its auditors Ernst and Young to court, claiming £3.75 billion damages. Tesco reported £2.03 billion profits in a year, with 20 per cent of takings from non-food items. Marks & Spencer reported a 5.1 per cent drop in sales in the past year. The Prince of Wales married Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles in a register office, after which she wished to be called the Duchess of Cornwall. The couple then said prayers at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, where the Archbishop of Canterbury blessed them and the Queen was present, later giving a reception for 800 guests.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in