Dirty diplomacy :, Murray, Craig,

Craig Murray is no ordinary diplomat. He enjoys a drink or three, and if its in the company of a pretty girl, so much the better. Murrays scant regard for the rules of the game also extends to his job. When, in the first few weeks of his posting to the little-known Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan, he comes across photographs of a political dissident who has literally been boiled to death, he ignores diplomatic nicety and calls it for what it is: torture of the cruelest sort.

Murray soon discovers that this is no one-off incident: fierce abuse of those opposing the government is rife. Its not long before he is tearing around the country in his embassy Land Rover, shaking off Uzbek police tails and crashing through roadblocks to meet with dissidents and expose their persecutors. He even confronts the despotic president, Islom Karimov, face-to-face.