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So his ruinous legacy was covered up with reverence. And now, Xi loses no opportunity to channel Mao, even usurping his defunct titles - Great Helmsman, People's Leader, Chairman. But what he seeks is much bigger. Then, in 2012, Bo, who had been building his own power base for years, was brought down by an extraordinary tale of murder, corruption and international intrigue that rocked China. Today he is serving life in prison. It was at this time - during a trade war between China and the EU over textile quotas - that I got a rare invitation to interview the commerce minister. Such interviews with top Chinese officials were excruciatingly dull, but this was the opposite. irannews.ru The minister's name was Bo Xilai. Tall, handsome and with a roguish charm, Bo seemed to enjoy the challenge, answering questions with wit and cogency. "This is a guy who could succeed as a politician anywhere," I thought to myself. But another Mordaunt backer, Conservative MP Heather Wheeler, insists that the Tory party needs her "fresh face", rather than "somebody with fingers on the knife of getting rid of other people". They believe it indicates an "if we can't have it, no-one can" approach. Behind the scripted scenes, China's Communist Party hosts a cut-throat world. Surrounded by loyalists and with no heir in sight, Xi is now indisputably in command of a much wealthier country, with a vastly more powerful military. And for the first time, the world is uncertain of what to expect from China. Xi has swept aside the old guard, both the critical and the cautious. "Once the firing starts it's three deep breaths, a couple of swear words and you move on." As we've been reporting, fewer than 30 Mordaunt-backers have declared their support publicly - although her team says she has many more. Then Covid threw a spanner in the works.