A thank-you visit

It is always dangerous for a politician – especially one in office – to interfere in another country's election. But last week, before German voters went to their polling stations, two of Europe's most prominent leaders took this chance; one backed the right wing Herr Stoiber and the other the incumbent Social Democrat Herr Schroder. The two daring intervenors were the French President Jacques Chirac and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair – no prizes for guessing who backed whom. Mr Blair put his money on the eventual winner by writing an article in which he said that Herr Schroder's critical comments on US and UK intervention in Iraq had raised interesting and important questions. It is an indication of how much the Prime Minister's support was valued that Herr Schroder travelled to London (not Paris) last night for talks at Downing Street – the first with a foreign leader since his election.