[Acrylic-bob]

It was revealed at the weekend that the Government of India has no desire to recieve the £280 million we give them each year in development aid. They regard the payments as 'a peanut'.

Last year they were on the verge of telling Britain where we could shove our peanut, until British Civil Servants intervened to beg the Indian Government to change its mind. It would be, they argued, an embarassment for Ministers who had expended political capital in the effort to persuade their electorate that the payments were necessary.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that India spends tens of Billions of pounds per year on defence and hundreds of millions of pounds on its own space programme. And despite the fact that the Indian government decided to choose a French supplier for a £13 billion air defence contract. and despite India's breakneck industrialisation. The international Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell has approved a further aid budget for India of £1.1 Billion over the next four years.

What part of 'No, thank you!' does Andrew Mitchell not understand?