Software king of the world and public enema of the mosquito, Bill Gates has given his seal of approval on the move by Microsoft to buy Skype. Gates  urged other board members to back the idea which will see Redmond paying $8.5bn for the loss-making internet phone service.

Gates is understood to have told a BBC interview which will be shown on Saturday that he was a strong proponent at the board level for the deal being done. This means that the deal did not spring from CEO Steve Ballmer's brain but might even have been Bill sticking his oar in.

Analysts have been divided as to whether or not buying Skype was a smart move. However the concept  that this sort of move would not have happened if Bill was in charge looks to be bogus.