Initial excitement in the UK about the apparent defection of Gaddafi’s right-hand man, Moussa Koussa, has been dampened now that the real reason for his visit has been revealed. Koussa explained to the BBC’s Humphrey Hawksley,
‘I was in Tunis, on a diplomatic mission and needed to get back in a hurry as the Duck [Gaddafi] would not stop sending me irritating text messages. So I jumped in the car and typed ‘Tripoli’ into the Satnav, but before I realised the mistake, the auto-complete had started taking me to Trapshill in Berkshire. It is a very nice place, have you been?’