When I say something, it doesn't exactly mean what I say.

This morning, on the Toady programme, we had the unedifying spectacle of the Foreign Secretary attempting to explain away an apparently simple statement.

When a Home Office minister, (what was he doing in Libya, anyway?) told the Gadaffi government that when he said "We do not want Mr. Mehgradi to die in prison", it did not mean this. It meant instead, with much hand-wringing, "Since the Blair botched devolution, we have to leave the decision to the Scottish government, but since oil is at stake, of course we would like to release the multi-murderer."

Quite what the Americans are making of all this, having been assured that they would be consulted before any release of the bomber, is that, using the Cameron expression, there is some double dealing here.

The special relationship will not end immediately, because our troops are still dying in Afghanistan, but they must be seeing us as an unreliable ally.