Quintin Jardine's blog

With old Colonel Gaddafi unravelling before our eyes over the last few days, his son Saif has been grabbing most of the air time. Clearly he is seen as the acceptable public face of  the regime. I wonder how many people share my view that with every public utterance he sounds more and more like Saddam’s hugely entertaining information minister, Comical Ali. However, Saif is not to be under-rated. He has three degrees, the most recent being a PhD awarded by the London School of Economics. Understanding the title of his thesis, ‘The Role of civil society in the democratisation of global governance institutions: from ‘soft power’ to collective decision-making?’ is worthy of a doctorate in its own right. Shortly after it was awarded, Saif pledged £1.5 million to support the work of an LSE project. Saif’s claims to respectability can only have credence when he is set alongside his brothers. Mutassim, who was exiled in Egypt for some time, was recently seen shaking the hand of Hillary Clinton and  is the head of the National Security Council, dad’s field operative, you might say, Saadi is a failed (very) professional footballer who now runs the Libyan Football Federation, and there’s one called Hannibal who has a track record of bad behaviour across Europe and who seems to be personally responsible for the state of near-hostilities that exists between Libya and Switzerland. This would all be risible, but for one disturbing fact: these guys hold the power of life and death over thousand of people and are currently exercising it. Saif has three plans, A, B and C, all is the same: ‘To live and die in Libya’. Their fulfilment may come sooner than he and his siblings realise.