Inquiry needed into Labour involvement in Gaddafi’s big tent - Davey

"We will need a far wider-ranging inquiry to really get to the bottom of this," said Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary. Commenting on the news that Jack Straw will be questioned by the Justice Committee over the release of Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi, Edward Davey said:

“Jack Straw has many questions to answer on his involvement in this issue, so it is right that he comes before a Parliamentary committee.

“But with daily revelations about the role of Brown, Mandelson and Blair in murky dealings with Libya, we will need a far wider-ranging inquiry to really get to the bottom of this.

“Parliament must set up a far-reaching investigation into recent UK-Libya relations which will call all those ministers involved to account. We need to get the truth from all the Labour figures who have been drawn into Gadaffi’s big tent.”

STRAW CONFIRMS BP OIL DEAL PART OF LIBYAN PTA

“MACASKILL RIGHT TO REJECT TAINTED PTA”

Commenting on an interview with Jack Straw in which he accepts that trade deals including a BP oil deal resulted in the UK Government switching position and including Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi in a Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Libya, having previously agreed with the Scottish Government that he should be excluded from the PTA, SNP MP and Westminster Leader Angus Robertson said:

"The Prisoner Transfer Agreement was always tainted – Jack Straw is now admitting it – and Kenny MacAskill was absolutely right to reject the PTA application. Jack Straw's admission that trade was at the heart of the UK Government’s actions over al-Megrahi confirms the wisdom of the Scottish Government in opposing this Prisoner Transfer Agreement from the start, and of the Justice Secretary in rejecting the application.

"In contrast to the UK Government’s dodgy deal in the desert, Scotland’s Justice Secretary made his decision to grant compassionate release to send al-Megrahi back to Libya to die on judicial grounds alone, according to the due process of Scots Law. Kenny Macaskill made the right decision for the right reasons, which is why support has surged forward to 45%, while opposition has fallen to the same level.”

Brown has to be straight with people about al-Megrahi

David Cameron has criticised Gordon Brown’s belated response to the release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi

Cameron criticised the Prime Minister's claim that there was no "double dealing".

"We learnt this morning from the Foreign Secretary that a Government minister told the Libyans that the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary did not want Mr. Megrahi to die in a Scottish jail. But at the same time we know the Government was giving assurances to the United States that Mr. Megrahi would spend his full sentence in a Scottish prison".

He added that almost as serious as this was the double dealing with the British public, where "on the one hand Gordon Brown has completely refused to give his opinion on the release of this mass murderer but on the other hand was content for the Libyans to be told that he shouldn’t die in prison".

Cameron concluded by calling on the Prime Minister to "answer the questions that need to be answered" and to "set up an inquiry so we can sort out this mess once and for all".

Megrahi for oil and for PR...and Mandelson definately wasn't involved!

The decision to release Megrahi was probably the right decision at law. It should also be remembered that the only reason we had him in the first place was because of a dodgy deal brokered between Blair and Gadaffi. Megrahi's family was paid very well at the time and I was never personally convinced that a guilty man was handed over.

In my view this decision was definitely made for political reasons. Any situation in which Mandelson claims to be offended and cries ridicule at the very suggestion that something dodgy has gone on behind closed doors usually points to the fact that it has.

One thing that should be remembered as the US sits on the end of the British bed and begins to dress itself is that we are probably going to have to make some other friends with oil quickly if we are to have any hope of not plunging further into economic doom and dispair.

If we were to choose our friends based on oil and in light of the respective death toll and humanitarian consequences of Lockerbie in comparison to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it seems a bit academic as to who the choice would be. However we are also to be judged in the latter and perhaps in releasing this man, guilty or not in the eyes of god, we may inadvertently be on the road to improving our image in the eyes of Islam which in some places does appear to have rather a lot of oil and money laying about.

UK MUST "OPEN UP" ON LIBYA DEALINGS

UK DEALINGS "SHROUNDED IN SECRECY"

Commenting on reports in The Herald newspaper in which Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif al Islam Gaddafi suggests that negotiations over the Prisoner Transfer Agreement struck between Tony Blair and Libya connected trade deals to the release of the Lockerbie bomber SNP MP and Westminster leader Angus Robertson said;

"Kenny MacAskill made the right decision for the right reasons and he has explained that decision in Parliament.

"The SNP spoke out against Tony Blair's deal in the desert when it was first struck, but the UK denied that Megrahi was the target and refused to exclude him from the agreement.

"The UK Government's negotiation of a prisoner transfer agreement and meetings between the UK Government and Libya remain shrouded in secrecy.

"It is time for the UK to open up on Blair and Brown's dealings with Colonel Gaddafi.

"The Scottish Government has said it will release all possible information on the consideration of Mr Megrahi's release as soon as it can.

"If the UK Government wants to end suspicion over it's own dealings with Libya Gordon Brown should adopt the same approach and put the details of these meetings into the public domain."

David Cameron writes to Gordon Brown on al-Megrahi release

David Cameron has written to Gordon Brown asking him to make clear his own view on the decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary to release Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

In the letter David Cameron said:

Dear Prime Minister,

The decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary to release Mr al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds has been widely condemned, including by President Obama.

As I said yesterday, I believe that the decision to release Megrahi was wrong. He was convicted of murdering 270 people, and I do not believe he deserved to be released on compassionate grounds, or returned to Libya.

The scenes of him receiving a rapturous welcome at Tripoli airport on his return will have distressed many people. I note that Colonel Gaddafi's son has now publicly thanked not just the Scottish authorities but the British Government for its stance, raising questions about the British Government's role.

You have not commented on the decision since it was announced yesterday. This morning your Foreign Secretary refused several requests to say what he thought of the Scottish Justice Secretary's decision.

The fact that the decision to release was taken by the Scottish Justice Secretary does not preclude you, as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from now expressing your opinion on a subject that is of great public concern, and which affects Britain's international reputation and our relations with our allies.

It is curious that while others have commented, Britain's own Prime Minister has not.

I hope you will now take the opportunity to do so.

We are entitled to know what you and your Ministers have said to the Libyan authorities on this matter, and to the Scottish Justice Secretary.

Above all, I believe that the public are entitled to know what you think of the decision to release Megrahi, and whether you consider it was right or wrong.

I hope you will now take the opportunity to make your own view clear.

David Cameron.