Condi Shows Southern Hospitality To Straw

[Annie]

I thought this just kind of nice:

http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=518852006

Straw 'mortified' as Rice is relegated to an air bed

JACK Straw has told how he was "mortified" to find that his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice had slept on the floor of her plane after giving up her bed for him.

The Foreign Secretary was on a surprise flight to Iraq with Ms Rice after she visited his Blackburn constituency and Liverpool.

He was clearly tired, and the US Secretary of State offered to let him have a nap in the sofa bed in her personal room/office.

Mr Straw said: "She offered me the use of the sofa bed in her room. I asked if there were proper alternative arrangements available and she said yes. She said she had work to do.

"I checked with her personal assistant and he said she would be fine so I took up her offer. The following morning I was mortified to find she had slept on an air bed on the floor of the plane."

The two were travelling on the Boeing 757 given to the US Secretary of State for her use. Mr Straw said it was a big plane so there was plenty of room but he was deeply embarrassed.

He added: "I think this is simply a case of the kind of hospitality for which people from the southern states of America are famed.

"I hope I would do the same thing but then I don't have a plane."

Reports say that during the six-hour flight, staff had trouble clearing up the plane's galley because Ms Rice and her air bed were blocking the aisle.

Ms Rice is known for her energy and drive, habitually rising at 4am for a punishing exercise regime so perhaps she needed less sleep than Mr Straw.

And despite her unusual overnight arrangements, while Mr Straw wore a military hard hat with his body armour when they arrived in Baghdad, she went bareheaded with her hairstyle as immaculately groomed as usual.

Ms Rice yesterday met Prime Minister Tony Blair after returning to the UK from Iraq. She had dinner with the prime minister at Downing Street. They are said to have discussed Iraq, Iran, the Middle East and Russia.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=518852006

Last updated: 04-Apr-06 13:43 BST