Gordon Brown: No plot, no cover-up and no oil deal with Libya

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Gordon Brown today insisted there had been "no cover up, no double-dealing, no deal for oil" over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

The Prime Minister moved to defend his conduct in the affair, stressing that he had not given Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi any "assurances" that Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi would be freed from jail.

But Mr Brown faced fresh attacks from Opposition leader David Cameron after it emerged that Tripoli had been told that the Prime Minister did not "want" the convicted terrorist to die in a Scottish prison.

Megrahi, who was convicted of the murder of 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, was released last month and returned to a hero's welcome in his home country.

The Scottish government said its decision to free him was on compassionate grounds because the 57-year-old has terminal prostate cancer.

Today Foreign Secretary David Miliband confirmed that the Libyans had been told privately that neither he nor Mr Brown had wanted Megrahi to die in jail.

The Prime Minister said that it was in Britain's national interest to get Libya back into the international fold and that the over-riding issue was to curb its nuclear weapons plans, and hinted that the Foreign Office had signalled it would not oppose Megrahi's release.

He said: "It is in all our interests and Britain's national interest that Libya rejoins the international community. Relationships between Libya and Britain matter for the security of our country.

"So it was the duty of those responsible to look at all possible outcomes of the Megrahi case and their effect on our relations with Libya and on international terrorism and nuclear proliferation."

However, he denied that the UK's refusal to stop the release of the bomber had any connection with oil and gas deals signed with British companies.

"There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to Colonel Gaddafi," Mr Brown told an audience in Birmingham.

Mr Brown stopped short of confirming that he had favoured releasing the terrorist before his death.

But he went on: "Did we as a Government say we would try to stop the Scottish Executive and force Megrahi to die in prison?

"No, we did not do so, and did not have the power to do so - and that was the right thing to do.

"There was never a linkage between any other issue and the Scottish Government's decision about Megrahi's future. Our interest throughout has been to strengthen the coalition against international terrorism."

Video: Gordon Brown answers Lockerbie questions

Mr Cameron seized on Mr Miliband's admission as proof that Mr Brown had given Libya the nod that he would not stand in the way of Megrahi's release.

The Tory leader, who stepped up his call for a public inquiry, said he would have let Megrahi die in a cell.

"We are talking here about someone who was convicted of murdering 270 people, who has served in jail less than two weeks for each of those people who were killed.

"He showed no compassion to his victims, they weren't allowed to go and die at home in their beds," Mr Cameron said.

Video: David Cameron says minister must 'be straight

Mr Miliband today confirmed that former Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell had told his Libyan counterpart in February that the British government did not want to see Megrahi die in jail.

"We did not want him to die in prison. No, we weren't seeking his death in prison," Mr Miliband told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

SNP leader Alex Salmond said the remarks were proof that Labour's position on the row was now "totally and utterly ludicrous".

The Scottish Labour party has savaged the SNP-led government in Edinburgh for its decision to free Megrahi.

The Prime Minister said that when he met Col Gadaffi this year, he had told him that he could not give him "any comfort" about the prisoner's fate.

He said: "I said to him, whatever his sympathies and those of others, this was a decision that would be made in a judicial context by the Scottish government."

He added: "Would it have been right to have spoken publicly about the issue before the decision when it was a matter for the Scottish government? No, we would have been wrong to intervene.

After the decision was made, and after the despicable scenes at Tripoli airport, was I right to use my energies to minimise further unnecessary suffering for the relatives of Lockerbie victims and to prevent Libyan independence day being made into a celebration of Megrahi's return? Yes, and as we saw yesterday, he did not appear at those events."

However, a video of Megrahi being welcomed on his arrival in Tripoli was shown in the Libyan capital as part of the celebrations of Gaddafi's 40 years in power.

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