Fully agree that the ramifications of storming an embassy make the letter from the FO to Ecuador ill advised. The incompetence was either naive or designed to urge Ecuador to make a decision that lessens their credibility on the world stage. it was either very clever or very stupid. In any event, he doesn't have diplomatic status as an asylum candidate and unless anyone forgot, he either lives out his life in a building in London or he has to leave it to get away from british soil. Interesting game of chess by anyone's standard.

That said, Bridge's suspicion that the allegation of rape coincided with the Wikileaks bit can be seen as suspicious, but irrelevant. The complainants of the alleged rape are still complaining and unprotected sex where only protected sex was consented to is, however you want to put it, sex without consent, or rape as we non legal bods would call it. If he is innocent, then all he has to do is cooperate. All this about Sweden could send him to USA has to be balanced against all the time he was on UK soil and I don't recall USA asking us to extradite him?

it could well be that it was consented, but unless and until the relevant law agencies are allowed to carry out their lawful investigations, the involved parties cannot put this behind them.

This is not about exposing government collusion and crime by releasing documents that embarrass them, although exposing allied forces to danger is something Wikileaks don't seem to worry about, it isn't even about suspending The Geneva Convention; it is about two women alleging non consenting sex. It can't be outside of reason to have that cleared up without him bleating about a death sentence? I can understand why he doesn't want to go to The USA, but if he isn't a rapist, why isn't he trying to clear his name? At present he is, by any title, an alleged rapist and nobody wants that to be hanging over them, unless they fear having the word "alleged" removed?