Charlie's silk socks

It was possibly because the exclusive shops already had Charlie Haughey's bust and his shoe-last (so orders could be telephoned…

It was possibly because the exclusive shops already had Charlie Haughey's bust and his shoe-last (so orders could be telephoned), that in his later years in office there appear to have been fewer shopping expeditions.

Although he visited Paris, New York, Washington and many other centres of fashion and elegance regularly, those who accompanied him at the end of the 1980s and in the early 1990s can't recall a summons to go shopping. One official who travelled with Monsieur le Premier Ministre regularly said he heard all the shopping tales from the earlier years, including the occasion of a European Council in Venice when the entourage was summoned to the waterfront to board a tender to Murano for a bit of retail therapy. Another aide recalls being sent out to search New York for silk socks.