China's Premier Polishes His Image With Well-worn Coat

It resembles the kind of frugal bargain found in a charity shop, but China’s prime minister is being lauded for sporting his unrepentantly unfashionable coat for more than a decade.

Wen Jiabao has been getting football manager-style wear out of his plain green jacket, although it is more reminiscent of Brian Clough’s old sweatshirt than Jose Mourinho’s sleek overcoat.

After donning the coat for a recent trip to Shandong province, a news website matched it to photographs from another visit he paid there in the winter of 1995, eight years before he became premier. The fact that his well-kept wardrobe appears uninfluenced by his rise to power has been hailed in China as proof of his man-of-the-people credentials.

"A salute to Premier Wen. He is just like my next-door neighbor: a good friend and frugal neighbor," said one of a flood of responses to the pictures China Daily’s website reported.

Thrifty dress sense is a noble tradition among China’s Communist leaders. Despite being known as the most debonair of the generation of leaders under Mao Zedong, the late premier, Zhou Enlai, impressed the masses by hanging on to an old pair of pajamas which have been immortalized in Chinese schoolbooks.

"Zhou Enlai’s patch-ridden pajamas touched the hearts of millions and remain a constant reminder of frugality to the younger generation," said China Daily. "His simple and frugal living style has been well carried on by Wen Jiabao."

Dressing down could, of course, be a shrewd piece of image management. If he studied western leaders Mr Wen would know that the final layer of winter wear can be a sartorial minefield.

Tony Blair plays safe and is rarely seen wearing an overcoat. David Cameron, however, could offer a lesson to both: he managed to imply he was both frugal and trendy when an interviewer revealed that his scruffy mac was bought second-hand for £25 from Portobello Market in London.