Jonathan Powell, Blair's former chief of staff, has been taking soundings across the EU. But the Whitehall source said: "Jonathan ain't enough."
Today, enough soundings are available to enable a relief map of the Atlantic to be drawn and we know something of the great variety of the sea bed's topography.
Since Mr Koussa’s departure, Abdelati al-Obeidi, the deputy foreign minister (since promoted) a long-serving aide of the colonel, has been in Greece, Turkey and Malta to take soundings.