Thaksin Shinawatra will fly to Britain today after being granted leave to skip court appearances so that he can watch his beloved Manchester City in the final weeks of the Premier League.

The former Prime Minister of Thailand, who has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges, had appealed to the Supreme Court in Bangkok to be allowed to leave the country during the trial.

Mr Thaksin said: “I feel like they are losing so many games ... in the past three, four months while I am still busy, so I have to go back and tighten the bolt.”

City, who made a promising start to the season under the manager Sven-Göran Eriksson but slipped to midtable, will play Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.

“That's the reason I have to go back,” said the billionaire telecoms tycoon. “That's my commitment to Manchester City.” His court appearance was routine, to deny all charges against him.

Mr Thaksin's sudden exit from Thailand comes 12 days after his spectacular return to Bangkok, when he received a hero's welcome from thousands of supporters, threats of mass demonstrations by his enemies and a wary glare from 10,000 police.

Permission for what will be a month-long visit to the UK was granted by the same Supreme Court that will try him in a case that was engineered by the organisers of the 2006 coup that chased Mr Thaksin from power.

Even facing serious criminal charges his presence in Thailand is, for the organisers of the coup, every bit as dangerous as his 17 months of exile in the UK and Hong Kong.

The court's granting of permission to leave the country was taken as a sign that the corruption charges could soon be dropped.

Mr Thaksin has said repeatedly that he and his wife, who is also involved in the corruption charge, did nothing wrong and that they are able to prove that they are completely innocent. Despite the widespread support he continues to command among the rural Thai population, Mr Thaksin still has many opponents.

They have viewed his return to Thailand with deep suspicion, scoffing at the former Prime Minister's assertions that he no longer wants any involvement in Thai politics.

The doubts were raised further yesterday when Mr Thaksin said that it was important to “let bygones be bygones” - a comment supposedly designed to calm fears that he plans to seek revenge on those who plotted his downfall.

Some argued that it could also be understood as Mr Thaksin's early bid to clear the way for a return to power.

Mr Thaksin also said that in the three or four months before he was chased into exile in London, he had survived four assassination attempts and remains worried about his security while in Thailand.

Thailand is currently led by Samak Sundaravej, a right-wing political bruiser who, at the age of 72, became Prime Minister as Mr Thaksin's proxy.

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