A Colchester wine merchants was all set to be the backdrop for a late-night political debating programme when events overtook themselves.

Colonel Bob Stewart, a former Army commander in the Balkans war, was guest speaker at a special customer event hosted by Lay and Wheeler last night.

Shortly after arriving in Colchester he was contacted by BBC Newsnight asking him to go back to London and appear on that night's show to talk about the Kosovo conflict.

But the military expert said he would honour his appointment in Essex, so the crew agreed to come to him.

Staff at the Gosbecks Road firm and their guests were all ready for the filming when the news came through that the news agenda had changed - Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic had been indicted as a war criminal - and Mr Stewart was no longer needed.

Last night's event was a meeting of the 1854 club, held quarterly for professionals and business people in the town, and remembering the year the firm started.

Mr Stewart told the 80 guests about his experiences in the conflict of the early 1990s. In his speech he was scathing of the early "inaction" of Nato.

"We cannot protect people by bombing," he said.

He said the British troops were "clearly willing and able" to fight and take risks.

"By involving ourselves we have raised the expectations of the people there. They thought they were saved and they weren't.

"We have totally let down the people of Kosovo who thought that with the involvement of Nato their lives would be put back to normal. They haven't been," he said.

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