Mr Deedes tells the magazine that he used to call Ms Amiel "the distraction". He said: "Barbara is a five-star girl and she needs five-star maintenance. He was willing to do whatever she wanted, it would appear."

Charles Moore comments: "She led him away from the company of journalists to the company of the super-rich." Whereas an ideal evening for Mr Black prior to his marriage in 1992 might have been dinner with a right-wing politician or columnist, favoured guests soon became the likes of Donald Trump, Princess Michael of Kent, the Duchess of York and Joan Collins.

"He did want society's acceptance. I could never quite figure out whose," said Mr Moore. Of Ms Amiel, he added: "One day she is kind, warm, helpful. Then she'll turn her head around and barely look at you. In social relations, she was definitely giving orders to him - it was not the other way around."

Both men also complain about the influence Lady Black had over her husband on political matters and of her meddling in staff hirings and firings. Mr Deedes said: "Barbara ruffled feathers with her views. 'I think I better ask the little woman,' he would say when certain subjects came up."

The Hollinger media empire that once gave Lord Black the keys to the British establishment has been broken up since he stepped down from the business in 2003. Federal prosecutors in the US accuse him of orchestrating a "corporate kleptocracy", looting at least $92m from the New York-listed business, Hollinger International, while his Canadian company, Hollinger Inc, is suing him for $700m, alleging widespread asset stripping. He and his wife had their worldwide assets frozen by an Ontario court last year.

The forthcoming criminal trial, set for 5 March, is sure to be a media circus with a defiant Lord Black promising "vindication" before returning to "a quieter life". According to a gossip columnist at Lord Black's former paper the Chicago Sun-Times, the peer was handing out T-shirts to his friends as Christmas presents emblazoned with the slogan "Conrad Will Win". No one has yet been photographed in one.

The magazine also quotes Lady Thatcher, who says she "does not cut and run just because someone gets into difficulties. Conrad is innocent until proven guilty". But other former friends have shunned him.

Dominic Lawson, a former editor of the Sunday Telegraph, says Lord Black often muses on the society friends who have stuck by him. "I think Conrad feels the Jews and Catholics have been very loyal and the Episcopalians less so," he says. "The Jews and Catholics are more accustomed to persecution."

The latest issue of Vanity Fair goes on sale on 12 January.

HMD causes burns and skin irritation.

Fire and ambulance crews were sent to the plant after the alarm was raised at 9:28 a.m. (0928 GMT).

According to an earlier Sky report, over 30 people had been injured, most of whom were treated at the site. The report quoted an ambulance service spokesperson as saying that there were 37 people injured.

There had been no comment on the cause of the leak.

Britain's Attorney General Peter Goldsmith denied in December that the government had contravened an OECD convention, to which Britain is a party, on combating bribery in international business transactions.

Goldsmith announced on December 14 that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) -- a government department -- had halted its investigation into claims that BAE Systems had established a slush fund for some Saudi royal family members.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended the decision, saying years of "ill feeling" between Britain and "a key partner and ally" would have developed if the investigation had been allowed to proceed.

The fund allegedly provided perks including luxury cars to keep the Saudis on board at BAE. It was also allegedly linked to an estimated 50-billion-pound deal from the 1980s involving the supply and support of Tornado and Hawk jets as well as the construction of an airbase.

BAE earlier this year agreed to a 10 billion-pound (14.8-billion-euro, 19.8-billion-dollar) deal with Saudi Arabia for 72 Eurofighter jets, and the deal was reportedly under threat because of the SFO investigation.

The Financial Times said Thursday that the OECD had "taken the unusual step of writing a formal letter to the Foreign Office to ask why the Serious Fraud Office stopped its investigation last month".

According to the business daily, the letter was sent on behalf of the OECD's working group on corporate bribery.

The FT quoted Mark Pieth, the bribery group's chairman, as saying:

"I am not condemning Britain at the moment. I just want to hear an explanation, and it had better be a good explanation."

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office told AFP: "We have received this letter and will be responding in due course."

The FT meanwhile added that the OECD had asked for the information to be provided ahead of discussion of the case at a regular meeting of the OECD this month, to be attended by British officials.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the January OECD meeting would not make the BAE-Saudi matter part of its agenda.

But he added: "My understanding is that at the end there will be a sort of 'tour de table' to discuss other pertinent issues and I have no doubt it will be raised at that point.

"The attorney general set out the reasons for the decisions that were made which seem to be in line with the convention, but I'm sure that this will be discussed at the meeting in a couple of weeks' time."

Goldsmith had said the SFO halted its probe after representations made both to him and the head of the SFO "concerning the need to safeguard national and international security".

One of the articles of the OECD convention on bribery states that contracting parties "shall not be influenced by considerations of national economic interest, the potential effect upon relations with another State or the identity of the natural or legal persons involved".

Source: Agence France-Presse

In the decade since the accident, a host of conspiracy theories flourished suggesting the couple were murdered because their relationship was embarrassing the British royal family.

The death of the "People's Princess" -- divorced from heir to the throne Britain's Prince Charles and the world's most photographed woman -- sparked an outpouring of grief in Britain.

A two-year French investigation ruled out foul play, saying Paul was responsible because he was drunk, under the influence of anti-depressants and driving too fast.

But that has not stopped skeptics pointing the finger of blame at British spies acting on the orders of Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Phillip or even of Britain's Prince Charles.

When the formal British inquest opened in 2004, it was immediately adjourned in dramatic fashion by the then royal coroner Michael Burgess to allow police to carry out a top-level investigation into the allegations.

That three-year inquiry, headed by former London police chief John Stevens, reported last month that it agreed with the French probe's conclusions, with thorough tests showing the chauffeur had been drinking before the crash.

It also dismissed claims Diana was pregnant and was engaged, or about to get engaged, to Fayed.

"On the evidence available now, there was no conspiracy to murder any of the occupants of that car. This was a tragic accident," Stevens said.

INQUEST TO FIND CAUSE OF DEATH

But under British law an inquest is needed to determine the cause of death when someone dies unnaturally. It cannot apportion blame but can rule that the death was "unnatural", due to violence or an accident.

The police report will be at the center of the inquest, which resumes on Monday, but Stevens said his findings should not prejudge its conclusions.

The inquest has already attracted controversy after Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who took over last year as the presiding judge, decided initial hearings should be conducted in secret.

She changed her mind after strong criticism from Fayed's father Mohamed, owner of the London store Harrods and the leading advocate of murder conspiracy theories.

Preliminary hearings will decide whether inquests into Diana and Fayed's deaths should be held together, whether a jury should be present and if so, who will take part.

Nothing short of a full public inquiry is likely to satisfy Fayed. "I will never accept this cover-up of what really happened," he said after the Stevens report, which he called "garbage".

"For nine years I have fought against overwhelming odds and monstrous official obstructions. I will not stop now in my quest for the truth."