Craig Murray’s successor as Ambassador to Uzbekistan has been announced by the Foreign Office. He is David Moran.

Let’s hope he’s a little more circumspect than Mr Murray who got himself into a frightful pickle by pointing out that the Uzbek regime are rapacious torturers and UK and US intelligence agency were grateful recipients for information gleaned from the poor souls being boiled alive (among other niceties.)

The Foreign Office weren’t very happy about this and Murray was rather unceremoniously removed from his post amid claims he’d been the victim of a FO smear campaign.

Just why the Government weren’t happy has never been adequately explained by them, after all hadn’t they read their own profile of Uzbekistan?

(The Government have belatedly come round to the idea that human rights in Uzbekistan might be a good idea. FO minister Bill Rammell was due to visit Tashkent “to press the government on its poor rights record” but the Uzbek government have vetoed the trip.)

Murray recently announced he’s standing against Jack Straw in his Blackburn constituency in the upcoming election. Tim Ireland’s looking to give him a helping hand.