Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa has not been offered immunity from prosecution in Britain or internationally after he arrived in Britain, Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
"Moussa Koussa is not being offered any immunity from British or international justice. He is voluntarily talking to British officials at the moment," Hague said.
Koussa resigned his post and said he no longer wanted to represent Libya internationally after he arrived at Farnborough Airport on a flight from Tunisia, Hague said.
"His resignation shows that Gaddafi's regime, which has already seen significant defections to the opposition, is fragmented, under pressure and crumbling from within," the British minister added.
"Gaddafi must be asking himself who will be the next to abandon him."
Surprise defection 'sign of crumbling regime'
Libya's foreign minister was being questioned by British officials after his surprise defection, viewed by opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as a sign that his regime was crumbling.
Moussa Koussa, a former head of Libyan intelligence and one-time ambassador to Britain, arrived "under his own free will" at Farnborough airport southwest of London, the Foreign Office said.
"He has told us that he is resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will release further detail in due course," it said in a statement.
It added: "Moussa Koussa is one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi's government and his role was to represent the regime internationally, something that he is no longer willing to do."
Britain urged other Libyans to abandon Gaddafi, whose forces are battling rebels who want an end to his four-decade rule.
"We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the aspirations of the Libyan people," the Foreign Office said.
The United States, which with Britain and France has led military action to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians from the fighting, hailed Koussa's departure as a major blow to Gaddafi's regime.
"This is a very significant defection and an indication that people around Gaddafi think the writing's on the wall," a senior US administration official said.
Former British foreign secretary Jack Straw suggested the defection could be a "tipping point".
"Moussa Koussa's apparent defection -- certainly his unscheduled visit here -- will be a very important factor in just adding to the weight against the Gaddafi regime and tipping the balance against him," he told BBC radio.
Koussa exit 'would make it easier for others to defect'
Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, said it would make it easier for others to defect, adding: "That's what we should be trying to encourage."
Several ministers and senior military officers have already abandoned Gaddafi and one of them, former immigration minister Ali Errishi, told France 24 television that Koussa's move showed "the regime's days are numbered".
As head of Libyan intelligence for 15 years before his appointment as foreign minister in March 2009, Koussa is credited with convincing Gaddafi to dismantle his nuclear weapons programme and renew ties with the West.
"He has occupied a key position at the heart of the intelligence and security apparatus of the Gaddafi regime," Straw remarked.
"And I am in absolutely no doubt that he played a fundamentally important role in getting Gaddafi to agree to give up his nuclear weapons programme and his chemical weapons programme."
However, Koussa has also been named as the architect of the 1988 airline bombing over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, which killed 270 people.
Libyan agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was jailed for the attack but was granted compassionate release from a Scottish jail in August 2009.
Koussa was expelled from Britain in 1980, just months after being appointed ambassador to London, after telling a journalist he approved of killing "enemies" of the Libyan regime.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced Wednesday that five diplomats at the Libyan embassy in London, including the military attache, were being expelled because of the threat they pose to opposition dissidents.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We believe they are among the strongest Gaddafi supporters in the embassy, that they have put pressure on Libyan opposition and student groups in the UK and that there is a risk of damage to UK national security if they remain."
'Gaddafi regime's days are numbered'
The departure of Libya's foreign minister Moussa Koussa means the Gaddafi regime's "days are numbered," defected immigration minister Ali Errishi told France 24 television.
Koussa's arrival in Britain was a "sign that the regime's days are numbered. It is the end... it is a blow to the regime (and) others will follow," said Errishi.
"I always said they are all held hostages in Tripoli. It is amazing how Mr Koussa was able to flee the country," said the ex-minister who himself defected soon after an uprising erupted in Libya in mid-February.
"Koussa was his most trusted aide. Gaddafi no longer has anybody. It's just him and his kids."
Asked what Britain would question the former top diplomat about, Errishi said: "If there is anything to know, he should be able to know it."
"(He knows) what is going on in Libya, where they get their arms from... He could be very beneficial and this is an opportunity for Mr Koussa to make up for a lot of bad (things).
"This is end of the regime. The brutal rule is about to be over. No-one knows the regime better than Mr Koussa."
Errishi said that while he was no longer in touch with people still in the Gaddafi regime, he knew most of them were patriots who are discovering "the man to whom they gave their loyalty is not the man they thought he was."
Several senior members of Gaddafi's entourage, including ministers and senior military officers, have defected since the uprising against his 42-year-rule broke out more than a month ago.
Libya's opposition Transitional National Council features a number of former senior figures in Gaddafi's regime.
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who quit as justice minister in February in protest at the crackdown on protesters, heads up the body.
Abdulrahman Shalgham, Libya's envoy to the UN and a former foreign minister, has also joined the opposition.
Scores of Libyan diplomats across the world have also resigned.
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