This being just the latest instalment of the far larger Al Yamamah - or "the Dove" - deal brokered by Jonathan Aitken, among others, under the Thatcher regime.

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In Britain, Jonathan Aitken and Jeffrey Archer, two members of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher's government, have both served time behind bars for perjury.

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"It does seem very odd that Jonathan Ross can be back broadcasting having made obscene, insulting remarks on the air, and Carol Thatcher, who said something which is allegedly highly offensive but which I rather doubt was meant to be so, in private, should be banned in this way, " he said.

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