Brown denies influencing Lockerbie decision

Gordon Brown today said he still believes it would have been “a mistake” for him to attempt to interfere in the decision of the Scottish Executive to free Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.

Mr Brown said he had no power to influence a quasi-judicial decision devolved to Edinburgh, and repeated his insistence that there was “no deal, no conspiracy” to exchange Megrahi for oil deals with Libya.

Speaking days after boycotting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s rambling speech at the United Nations in New York, Mr Brown left no doubt that he regards Megrahi as guilty of the bombing which killed 270 people in 1988.

But he said that people should recognise that Britain’s efforts to normalise relations with the north African state had contributed towards the Gaddafi regime’s abandonment of nuclear weapons ambitions and renunciation of international terrorism.