Alistair Darling, the secretary for trade and industry, went to India this week too, taking over 100 British businessmen with him.

ECONOMIST: Britain and India

"We are not a command economy, " sniffs the SAR's secretary for trade and industry, Brian Chau Tak-hay, in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

CNN: WHO HAS THE EDGE?

One, Harriet Harman, was later sacked from her job as secretary of state for social security, and another, Margaret Beckett, was demoted from secretary of state for trade and industry to leader of the House of Commons.

ECONOMIST: The queue for the cabinet

Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, has decided not to permit the proposed acquisition by Lloyds TSB Group plc (Lloyds TSB) of Abbey National plc (Abbey).

BBC: Patricia Hewitt statement in full