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David Cameron stepped up his attack on Gordon Brown over the Lockerbie affair today after Colonel Gaddafi's son claimed a UK-Libya prisoner deal was linked to oil and trade.
The Tory leader accused the Prime Minister of a “lack of leadership” and demanded full disclosure of Britain's contacts with Tripoli.
It came as Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi claimed that oil and gas deals for British firms were intimately linked to talks about prisoner transfers. Mr Gaddafi said that although Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was not named during Tony Blair's “deal in the desert” two years ago, it was “obvious we were targeting Mr Megrahi”.
In the end, the prisoner transfer agreement between the UK and Libya was not used to release the bomber. The Scottish government freed him on compassionate grounds as he was expected to die soon from cancer.
Mr Cameron seized on the claims to renew his attack on Mr Brown. On Tuesday, Mr Brown said he had been “angry” and “repulsed” by the jubilant scenes in Tripoli but refused to say whether he supported the release.
Mr Cameron pointed out that “everyone” was appalled by the hero's welcome, but the bigger issue was the actual decision itself.
In a letter to Conservative supporters, he also said Tory MPs had been putting down parliamentary questions to find out what “dealings” ministers had had with Libya on Megrahi's release.
Mr Cameron said that the public still had a right to know Mr Brown's opinion: “I have made my view clear. I think it was wrong. I see no justice in affording mercy to someone who showed no mercy to his victims.
“But what does the Prime Minister think? It's not good enough hiding behind the cloak of constitutional convention and saying this is a devolved matter.”
Further pressure on the Government came from the SNP. The party's Westminster leader Angus Robertson said: “The UK Government's negotiation of a prisoner transfer agreement... remains shrouded in secrecy. It is time for the UK to open up on Blair and Brown's dealings with Colonel Gaddafi.”
He said the Scottish government had pledged to release “all possible information” on Megrahi's release, and Westminster should follow suit.
Shadow Scotland Office minister Ben Wallace said: “If the Westminster government had no involvement in the decision to release Megrahi then Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson should have no objection to releasing details of their dealings with Libya.”
Reader views (18)
As far as Law is concerned Scotland has always been independent of England and Wales and now with its own parliament it can take its own decisions.
No doubt has Brown done something he would then be subject to moans about him interferring in Scottish affairs!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 01/09/2009 14:34
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I just do not know what to say. Simply horrible people and there is no truth in them.
- Ruckus, Myrtle Beach USA, 01/09/2009 05:36
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On the one hand we all want some response
from our Great politburo leader Comrade Brown.
However, what a relief not to see the kipper.
You know, two faced and no guts with the fake grin.
- Macdangler, Wimbledon SW19, 28/08/2009 15:59
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Look
1) We went to war with Iraq for oil led by the US - true or false - true. Why is it our soldiers come back dead - why hasnt Tony Blair offered Ewan Blair to join our arm forces out there!
2) The war in Afghanistan was to control the amount of opium created and distributed! true or false - true
3) Deal over the release of the lockerbie bomber was over contracts in libya.
do these politicans think we are dizzy blonds
- Raminder Bhalla, Northolt, 28/08/2009 15:17
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It is shameful the way Brown conducted himself over this issue. He justly deserves his nickname, Bottler.
- David, Fleet UK, 28/08/2009 14:53
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The stench of political back-stabbing in this affair is overwhelming.
It suits Brown down to the ground to see the SNP in trouble. This will have given him the courage to call the Glasgow East by-election and give him hope that his powerful Scottish Labour Group, which keeps him in power, will regain lost ground from the SNP.
It's probable Brown had to keep his head down for a few days because he couldn't keep the smirk off his face.
- Scotty, Cambridge UK, 28/08/2009 13:06
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Of course there was a deal - I would be interested to know how many prisnors die of natural causes die in Scottish jails? If there is a significant number why were they not let out early?
- Very Very Angry At Paying Tax For Mp'S Expeses, Home Counties, 28/08/2009 12:46
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This really isn't surprising.
It was not too long ago the Serious Fraud Office stopped its investigations into the Saudi Arabians huge arms deal with BAE. When we deal with these regimes, I'm sure lots goes on behind the scenes that never reaches the public. We don't have the luxury of having oil fields since the North Sea ran out so we have to deal with these nations.
- James, London, Maida Vale, 28/08/2009 11:40
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Like Mandelson, President Elect of Europe Anthony Blair clearly began his career selling apples in the Garden of Eden.
Those 1997 Demon Eyes ads that caused such an upset at the time are looking pretty accurate right now.
- Ricky, Hackney, London, 28/08/2009 11:38
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Things we still have yet to come to terms with.
1. Our politicians are dishonest.
2. They have agendas that the voting public know little or nothing about.
3. International politicians are even more dishonest.
4. Gordon Brown is a weak, weak person. He has no backbone. He cannot welcome home the bodies of dead soldiers, and he cannot comment of the Libyan bomber but, here's the things Gordon Brown has time to write letters on:-
* letter to John Terry over a game of football
* a statement over the illness of Z lister Jade Goody
* a statement about Lewis Hailton on an F1 championship
* a letter to the captain of a womens cricket team
* a letter to X Factor finalist Dan Evans
* a comment about a British film Slumdog Millionnaire
* a statemnt on Michael Jackson
* a staement on Susan Boyle - a contestant on a TV show
* a letter about a teenage diving champion Tom Daley
BUT.... regarding a decision to release the most infamous airplane bombing terrorist the UK or the world has ever known?? Guess what? Gordon knew nothing and had no part to play.
And my gullible, inconsequential voting friends, is what NuLabour and Brown is all about.
Swap Brown for al Megrahi - at least we know what we have in Megrahi.
- Chris Williams, Cardiff, 28/08/2009 11:21
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The deed is done no amount of hand wring will change it now.Lets hope that the promise of cheap oil is forth coming.
- David Smith, Croydon, 28/08/2009 10:39
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Come on people, get real. Did anyone believe for one minute that the scots made this decision by themselves. It will be interesting to see what they get given in the coming months from Gordon for doing his bidding. No one has come forward from the government and said unequivocally that a deal was not struck btween them and the Libya. Brown and co might be repulsed by the home coming; but thats easy to say because the pictures said it all. They could hardly say anything else. But if you look at the fine print of what Mandleson said after his very opportune visit to hospital and Brown`s ham fisted go at being Mr Angry, neither of them have denied outright that commerce was not the real reason. Mandleson admitted that the matter of Megrahi was always on the table when discussions took place between the two governments. Undoubtely it was also discussed when Mandleson met his billionaire Russian friend and Rothschild, both of whom have vested interests in Libya. Its a murky old world. Labour`s track record for being honest is not that good and has got worse under Gordon`s stewardship. When he is gone the truth will undoubtedly emerge but until then we will just get more lies upon lies from an administration that is both morally and financially broke.
- B Gare, Norfolk Gorleston, 28/08/2009 10:19
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Compared to the ongoing death toll in Iraq, "only" 270 people died in this particular oil war.
- C.Nichol, London, 28/08/2009 10:08
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Funny how the Libyans saw the negotiations and put their own gloss on things.
- Dhan Raj, Basildon, 28/08/2009 09:18
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And in other shock developments, the Pope, speaking in Rome, announces he is a Roman Catholic and later we shall have exclusive footage of Baloo The Bear relieving himself in a forestry plantation...
- Call Me Cynical, Aldershot, Hampshire, 28/08/2009 08:49
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Oh! what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive?
- Mickinlondon, london, 28/08/2009 07:41
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The Libyans, in by-passing American oil companies, have set themselves up to be on the receiving end of some democracy.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 28/08/2009 07:40
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Does this mean that our "business minister" was telling a load of porkies?
- Albert Hall, hove england, 28/08/2009 07:24
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