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As the Elysée Palace has squirmed, the opposition has been rubbing in the embarrassment that Colonel Gaddafi has been joyously inflicting on his first trip to Paris since 1973, when Mr Sarkozy was a schoolboy.

About 100 Socialist MPs boycotted his visit to Parliament. Ségolène Royal, who lost the presidential election to Mr Sarkozy, said that the “President has fallen into the trap of a reigning dictator who has no scruples”. Pierre Moscovici, a former Socialist minister, said that Mr Sarkozy had blundered by offering Paris for Colonel Gaddafi’s first official visit to a Western nation since he renounced his wicked ways in 2003. “Sometimes you have to sup with the Devil, but you use a long spoon and don’t serve him the soup,” he said.

Manuel Valls, a senior Socialist who wants the party leadership, said: “France has been humiliated. When the President of the republic is called a liar by Colonel Gaddari, then you are dealing with an affront, a humiliation.” Mr Gaddafi insisted on French television that “My close friend Sarkozy” was not telling the truth when he said that he had brought up Libya’s record on human rights during their sessions or dinner at the Elysée.

On Thursday Mr Sarkozy ordered his staff to control the damage and dashed off to Portugal to sign the EU treaty. Before leaving, he persuaded Colonel Gaddafi to make a public statement condemning bomb attacks that killed dozens in Algiers on Wednesday. The Libyan leader complied, saying that no Muslim could have caused the explosions. This week he has also said that Libya had never committeed terrorism but that terrorism was justified when used by the weak against the strong.

In another attempt to retrieve the situation, Mr Sarkozy summoned to the palace families of victims of a French airliner that was destroyed in flight over Niger in 1989, killing all 170 on board. Like the Lockerbie disaster, the bomb attack was blamed on Tripoli and Libya has paid compensation. The relatives said that Mr Sarkozy told them that the gesture was to show that he had not forgotten the past, but some said they were appalled that the President had offered such hospitality to the man responsible. Another of Libya’s victims, Dr Ashraf Alhajouj, a Palestinian imprisoned for eight years along with with Bulgarian nurses, opened legal proceedings in Paris against Colonel Gaddafi, accusing him of torture.

Colonel Gaddafi’s invitation was part of the reward from Mr Sarkozy for the release of the medical workers last July. The President did not realise what he was letting himself in for, said François Bayrou, the centrist who ran for the presidency last spring. “Gaddafi is very cunning and he understood all the advantage that he could draw from this visit that was offered to him on a plate.” The unwanted guest turns up in Madrid tomorrow, unless, as a radio comedian joked, Mr Sarkozy has sold him the Château de Versailles.

Green guide of the revolution

— Gaddafi holds no official title in Libya. Since the country is ostensibly a “state of the masses” run by people’s committees, it has no need for a head of state. Gaddafi is “the Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution”

— Libya’s unique government system derives from The Green Book, in which Gaddafi outlines his Socialist- Islamic philosophy.

— Gaddafi claims that in a democracy, the will of 51 per cent of the population can subsume the wishes of 49 per cent, leading to “a dictatorial governing body in the guise of a false democracy”

— While his control at home is near absolute, Gaddafi has been thwarted in attempts to spread his philosophy abroad. His plans for a Federation of Arab Republics were abandoned after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. His proposals for Middle East peace based on a united Palestine and Israel named Isratine were roundly mocked

— Gaddafi’s 200-strong all-female personal bodyguard is known as the Amazonian Guard. They are trained in martial arts and when Gaddafi arrived for a summit last year, the Nigerian President would not let them keep their weapons

Source: The Green Book, US State Department, Times archives, Encarta

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