Corfu is one thing, but... Well the following is a rather extraordinary disclosure from Charles Moore, made as the lead item in his notebook for tomorrow's Spectator. It speaks best for itself: Now that Libya has made its strange bargain with the West, Saif has taken up our traditional upper-class sport with delight. Near Tripoli, he has laid down 40,000 partridges. Unfortunately, raptors have consumed about half of them, but Saif invited friends, including Flavio Briatore of Formula 1 fame, to a shoot there a few weeks back, with lunch in a desert tent, and the bag was about 300. More recently, Saif was shooting in Spain, the guest of Alejandro Agag. Mr Agag is a businessman - managing director of Queen's Park Rangers, among other things - who used to be secretary-general of the European People's Party in the European parliament. He is a friend of Silvio Berlusconi and is married to the daughter of José Maria Aznar, the former prime minister of Spain (Tony Blair was at the wedding). Saif comes to England to shoot quite often, though I gather he has got into a bit of trouble about his guns with the airport authorities. Readers will remember that Lord Mandelson met Saif at Lord Rothschild's villa in Corfu days before the release of Al Megrahi. What are we to make of all this? It could be argued that the Gaddafis are better occupied shooting pheasants than blowing up airliners. It could also be argued that it is unusual for our deputy prime minister to be rubbing shoulders with a member of the family responsible for the biggest terrorist atrocity ever committed against British citizens.'Wednesday, 25th November 2009
EXCLUSIVE: the Mandelson and Gaddafi shooting party
FRASER NELSON 6:33pm
'I hear of a remarkable recent gathering at Waddesdon Manor, Lord Rothschild's famous French chateau in Buckinghamshire. A shoot was taking place, though not all the party were shooting. As well as Lord Rothschild and his son Nat, the unofficial deputy prime minister, Lord Mandelson, was there, and also Lord Rothschild's country neighbour, Cherie Blair. Neither of them picked up a gun. Various young friends of Nat with double-barrelled or European princely names were shooting. But the keenest shot was Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the Libyan dictator, and the man who escorted the Lockerbie bomber, Al Megrahi, home to a hero's welcome in Libya in August.
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