(06.09.2009) The career of ex-MI6 agent Sir Mark Allen, the driving force behind the suspected ‘deal’ to return Abdelbaset Al Megrahi to Libya, reads like an espionage novel, taking in Middle East spy schools, falconry and secret meetings in Pall Mall gentlemen’s clubs.

Our investigation has discovered how Sir Mark, 59 – who resigned from MI6 to join BP in 2004 – used the contacts made during a life in the shadows to build a new career in business.