As the British Secret Service has come out of the shadows, some of the myth and mystery has certainly disappeared.

BBC: Spies like them

Mr Davey said the number of allegations about the activities of British secret service agents and their complicity in torture "needed to be taken seriously".

BBC: Lib Dems call for torture inquiry

The Iraqi family connection will doubtless prompt a call to MI6, the British secret intelligence service.

BBC: French shootings: What happens in the aftermath of murder?

Sometimes that is true it was what the West tried with Mr Qaddafi a quarter of a century ago, after his diplomats shot a British policewoman, his agents bombed a nightclub in Berlin, and his secret service started to bring down airliners.

ECONOMIST: Qaddafi and his ilk

Some 5, 000 British police officers were on hand to protect the president, along with the 700 or so secret-service agents Mr Bush brought with him.

ECONOMIST: An awkward guest | The