UK: SHORT ROUTE TO SAVING THE WORLD - Business executives who expect to do battle with an Old Labourite ...

SHORT ROUTE TO SAVING THE WORLD - Business executives who expect to do battle with an Old Labourite peddling bash-the-bosses rhetoric will be relieved - or disappointed - to encounter the real Clare Short (right). The pro-Europe, socially-committed secretary of state at the Department for International Development cuts a business-friendly dash Richard Woods reports.

Clare Short has just banished one of her aides to hide behind a potted plant in the corner of the room. She is having her picture taken and the photographer, a Mancunian in jeans and T-shirt, is keen to clear his field of view. 'Chin up please, and don't look sinister,' he says.