Pinochet in Piccadilly

In October 1998, the erstwhile Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London, charged with crimes against humanity by a Spanish magistrate. But over the 16 months that Pinochet was detained, intriguing questions went unanswered about his close ties with Britain. Why was Lady Thatcher so keen to defend the General? And why was Tony Blair's usually cautious government prepared to have him arrested? As Andy Beckett uncovers, the answers reside deep within the long and shadowy history of relations between Britain and Chile.