When India selected 126 French Rafale fighter aircraft (£13 billion) over the U.K.-manufactured Typhoon involving a consortium of European countries, some British politicians and commentators demanded that aid to "ungrateful" India, a fast-rising economic power, be stopped.
The press dredged up Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's comment that the £280 million annual British aid is "peanuts." India's opposition parties called for U.K. aid to be rejected.
Britain's aid program will continue: The Cameron government has expended too much political capital to justify the aid policy (without cuts) to voters to risk the embarrassment of ending it.