Apparently there is to be no deal with defecting Gaddafi henchman, Mr Moussa Koussa.

Strange.  I thought HMG had been cutting deals with him and his ilk for much of the past decade. 

Indeed, it seems to me as if deals over convicted terrorists, oil rights and non-existent weapons of mass destruction formed the basis of British foreign policy towards Libya - until about a month ago.

It's not just Middle Eastern dictators that have been caught on the hop by the democratic revolutions sweeping the region.   It seems to have blind-sided many of those Western policy-makers who, having urged constuctive engagement with the tyrants of Tripoli, now line up to tell us how nice we have to be to Mr Koussa.

"We have to be pragmatic, old chap" they will say.  "We must deal with the world as it is".  Indeed we must.  And the world is changing fast - in this age of universal democracy, a foreign policy that puts oil interests above morality will mean you end up without either. 

I suspect that this morning there are quite a number of present and former British diplomats, oil big wigs and other grandees all rather keen that Mr Koussa does not lift the lid on the extent to which the UK government has disgracefully been cutting deals with the people responsible for Lockerbie.