Now there is officially no need to satirise our political leaders, will satire itself die?

Tony Blair has been accused of double standards after he declined to comment on the execution of Saddam Hussein after returning from his holiday in Miami.

MPs are demanding a statement from the Prime Minister about the taunting and unauthorised filming of the former Iraqi dictator just before he was hanged last Saturday. They recalled that Mr Blair has commented on the deaths of footballers, musicians and disc jockeys as well as speaking for the nation after the death of the Princess of Wales and the Queen Mother.

In 1998, he authorised a Downing Street statement backing a campaign for the release from prison of Deidre Rachid, a character in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.