For more than two years Mr Tony Blair's government has told us that its foreign policy is guided by ethics.
Such commendable intentions booted Pakistan out of the Commonwealth councils on Monday and the next day saw China's President Jiang Zemin riding down the Mall in the Australian state coach with Queen Elizabeth.
Cries of side-stepping the issue of human rights abuses in China and inconsistency in Britain's declared ethical foreign policy were audible among the 200 or so human rights and Amnesty International protesters gathered in the Mall as Mr Jiang and his entourage trotted quickly past them, hoping to avoid catching sight of Tibetan flags and derisory shouts of "Nazi China" and "Bloody murderer".
No one, including the protesters on the Mall, was left in any doubt about how far Britain's ethical foreign policy actually stretched.
The bylaws governing the royal parks, of which the Mall is a part, meant the police were able to stifle the protest, snatching Tibetan flags from the hands of the protesters and dragging them away.
If he saw the police being heavy-handed as he made his way to a private lunch and state banquet at Buckingham Palace, Mr Jiang must have felt at home.
If that was the case, the Chinese President may even have mentioned to Queen Elizabeth how pleased he was that Britain dealt with unruly citizens in such an effective manner.
He may have told her about his unfortunate visit to Switzerland in March when the authorities there failed to keep Tibetan campaigners from close quarters, prompting him to remark to his hosts: "You have lost a good friend."
There seems little chance of that happening during this trip.
Britain exported nearly £1 billion of products to China in 1998 and it is this lucrative trade with Mr Jiang's regime that provides him with tea and sandwiches at Buckingham Palace and a photo opportunity at the Millennium Dome.
It is also a means of showing the people of China that although Mr Blair will raise human rights and Tibet with Mr Jiang behind closed doors, his primary purpose is to foster trade links while the roots of democracy are trampled in Beijing.
Amnesty International scorned the British government for entering into a "circular" discussion on human rights with Mr Jiang. Torture, imprisonment and extravagant use of the death penalty in China must not go unchecked, Amnesty said.
It also pointed out that it was easy for governments to criticise "pariah states" such as Iraq and Burma, but when it came to publicly condemning the human rights record of economically strategic countries Britain's record was inconsistent.
The campaign director of Free Tibet, Ms Alison Reynolds, criticised Mr Jiang's visit: "It is clear that the Chinese government's most successful export has been its methods of suppressing free speech."
Mr Wei Jingsheng, a Chinese dissident who spent 18 years in prison because of his work promoting democracy, tried to get himself arrested during the protests at the Mall on Tuesday.
He also urged Mr Blair to remind Mr Jiang that human rights abuses could not be tolerated.
Yet, while Mr Jiang has been feted in Britain, Gen Pervaiz Musharraf's bloodless coup in Pakistan, removing as it did a corrupt government, brought the full weight of the Commonwealth crashing down upon Islamabad.
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, rightly pointed out that Pakistan's military regime had violated Commonwealth rules by seizing power illegally and Gen Musharraf admitted that he violated the country's constitution in removing the Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif.
However, it is widely expected that Gen Musharraf will in time call free and fair elections and democracy will be restored.
Few people watching Mr Jiang's procession through London can have believed that his was the party which sanctioned the deaths of students at Tiananmen Square 10 years ago.
Surely the pomp and ceremony afforded to the Chinese leader were justified for a visiting head of state? The London Independent did not think so, and a Daily Telegraph editorial condemned the actions of the police in removing democratic protesters from the streets, saying: "Mr Blair and Mr Cook, who took office with a self-congratulatory promise of an ethical foreign policy, have failed to strike the right balance . . . The government may have been right to invite President Jiang to Britain, but it should not kowtow to repressive demands."
The British government confirmed four major deals, potentially worth a total $3.5 billion, on the second day of Mr Jiang's state visit. It also confirmed the Bank of China would grant a three billion yuan ($350 million) loan to Standard Chartered bank to help British companies finance business in China.