EC President to leaders: 'Be prepared to deal with dictators'

International statesmen have to be prepared to deal with dubious dictators their mothers would not approve of, the President of the European Commission said today.

In a dig at Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s refusal to attend a summit because Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe will be there, Jose Manuel Barroso said if everyone had the same attitude, international politicians would take part in far fewer global events.