Portrait of the week
In the largest backbench revolt of this parliament, 42 Tory MPs voted with the Liberals and Social Democrats in protest against the Government's plan to reach a voluntary agreement with the TUC over the political levy. Mrs Thatcher ordered a ma- jor investigation of Government security after yet another leak: it was revealed that a 19-year-old lance corporal in the In- telligence Corps had stolen a top secret in- telligence report during his first day's work at the Ministry of Defence, and tried to sell it to the Russians. Mr Mark Thatcher an- nounced that he was going to live in the United States, where he would work for Lotus cars. He said he had been naive to think that his business affairs would not be used as an excuse to get at his mother. The CBI reported that more manufacturers are optimistic that output will rise than at any time since 1976. It predicted that the recovery will continue into 1985, but foresaw no fall in unemployment. The Department of Employment reported that the underlying trend in unemployment had been upwards for the last four months. In Liverpool the Labour group on the city council failed to carry its illegal budget pro- posals but voted instead that there should be no budget at all until after the local elec- tions on 3 May. Amid increasing evidence that prospective customers were turning away from coal to other forms of energy, Mr Ian MacGregor, chairman of the Coal Board, attacked left-wing extremists within the miners union for pursuing a political strike. Mr Arthur Scargill, president of the National Union of Mineworkers, held out no prospect of a national strike ballot to resolve differences among the miners themselves, and about three-quarters of the industry remained closed. Nottinghamshire miners defied a call by their local leaders not to cross picket lines. At Greenham Common air base women were evicted from their camp outside the main gates. Lord Peart was hit over the head by burglqs. Miss Sarah Tisdall received three offers& ***** ***** *** marriage.
The Queen returned safely from her tisit to Jordan. President Chaim Herzog or Israel lunched at Windsor with her and in- vited her to visit Israel. Mr Walter Montlale won a convincing victory over Senator Gary Hart in the New York primary, with the Rev Jesse Jackson a close third. Common Market agriculture ministers reached an agreement on farm prices and production which will still lead to the annual produc- tion of over 10 million tonnes more milk than the Community consumes, and to overspending estimated at two billion pounds on the farm budget next year. The deal was condemned by seven per cent. A Soviet fleet of at least 200 ships began exer- cises in the North Atlantic. In Angola 16 British hostages, captured on 23 February by pro-Western UNITA guerillas, and made to travel 804 miles to the rebels' head- quarters at Jamba, appealed to Mrs That- cher to open direct talks on their release: the Foreign Office condemned the taking of hostages, but said talks could be opened on humanitarian grounds. In Honduras the civilian President Suazo Cordova took con- trol of the armed forces after forcing the resignation and exile of General Alvarez, a close friend of the United States. Nissan, the ;Japanese' car manufacturer,] announc- ed that it is to build a car assembly plant near Sunderland.
HelloHello Dandy won the Grand National four lengths from Greasepaint. The Rugby Football Union voted to send an England team to South Africa this summer, despite the danger of retaliation against British athletes in the Olympic Games. Lord Montagu became first Chairman of the new Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission. The Duke of Devonshire said he was auctioning 74 from his collection of 2,000 old master drawings in order to refur- bish his private quarters at Chatsworth. The Duke of Sutherland opened negotiations with the National Gallery of Scotland over the sale of four pictures valued at five million pounds. The widow of a man who died sud- denly in Birmingham gave permission for his heart, kidneys, pancreas and corneas to be used in five separate transplant opera- tions. The Sprayer of Zurich, a highly prais- ed graffiti artist who covered more than 100 buildings in Zurich with protests against ur- ban sterility, lost his appeal against extradi- tion from West Germany to Switzerland, to serve a nine-month prison sentence, despite being offered cultural asylum by an art 'I just wanted to know the time, officer.'
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