Bouquets all round

That the Prime Minister's wife rang a television chat show to admonish her husband for never sending her flowers should strike fear into the hearts of every florist in Britain. Urged on by her redoubtable mother, Gale, Mrs Blair made the call to Richard and Judy in an attempt to embarrass our leader into putting his hand in his pocket. But, as Mrs Blair acknowledged, the call will have had the opposite effect. 'I've now got myself into a situation where he can say that if he did send me flowers I would be bound to be suspicious. So he's got out of it for ever.'

Now, up and down the country, desperate men will trot out the excuse that if the country's most powerful man doesn't feel the need to send his wife flowers, neither will they. Rose growers in the shires could go out of business; the impending £23 million sale of Interflora to a private equity firm might run into the ground; Britain's maternity wards could become cheerless deserts. Mr Blair must strive to prevent such chaos, especially in election year. A week tomorrow is the feast of St Valentine. He knows what he must do.