Tony Loses a Chum

The Middle East's Peace Through Bombs envoy, Tony Blair, has requested that his grief at the death of Colonel Gaddafi be treated tactfully by the media.

"It's come as a great shock to him," said a source close to the family. "Up until now, bombing things has been a bit of a game to him, but for about a minute today it suddenly seemed he was taking it almost seriously."

Blair and Gaddafi grew close during the later part of Blair's ministry, although at first sight the two men had little in common except a mutual predilection for large sums of money.

"We were all amazed they hit it off so well," said a former Blair aide, speaking on condition of anonymity from Broadmoor.

"We were expecting fireworks when they met, because at least one of them was this tasteless, posturing authoritarian with a liking for extreme violence and imprisonment without trial.

"It must have been a case of opposites attracting, though they both wrote books of course. Perhaps it was literature that united them - that and outstaying their welcome."

Britain's recently resigned defence secretary, Adam Werritty, said that Gaddafi had done the right thing by getting killed, but that Libya would have been free much faster if the media had been less vindictive.

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