No 'desert deal' to free Megrahi says former PM

Published on Saturday 22 August 2009 20:05

TONY Blair has denied claims of a "deal in the desert", insisting he did not agree to release the Lockerbie bomber in return for guarantees on lucrative Libyan oil deals.

In his first comments since Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's release on Thursday, the former prime minister said that while the Libyans had put their case for the bomber to return home, he had never made any promises in return.

"As I used to say to them, I don't have the power to release Mr Megrahi," Blair said.

Earlier, Lord Mandelson said claims that Britain had done such a deal with Libya were "wrong, completely implausible and quite offensive".

The pair were forced to speak out after Colonel Muammar Gaddafi had praised the UK Government for "encouraging" the Scots to free his countryman, and after his son, Saif al-Islam, said the decision was tied to a trade agreement with the British.

Despite the assurances from Blair and Mandelson, Conservative shadow foreign secretary William Hague said that ministers should now release all documentation of their meetings with Gaddafi and his son, to prove beyond doubt that the fate of Megrahi had not been part of a deal.

In an interview with the US news channel CNN, Blair referred to his meetings with Gaddafi in 2007.

"Let me make one thing absolutely clear. The Libyans, of course, were raising the case for Megrahi all the way along, not just with me but with everybody. It was a major national concern for them."

He said: "So yes, of course it's absolutely right the Libyans were always raising this issue, but we made it clear that the only way this could be dealt with was through the proper procedures." He said he told the Libyans that the decision rested with the Scottish Government.

Blair spoke out as Labour ministers awoke to the allegations yesterday morning, after Gaddafi used a TV interview to praise the SNP administration and the UK Government. He also risked provoking further anger from US and British authorities by being pictured embracing Megrahi.

With Megrahi seated alongside him, Gaddafi declared: "To my friends in Scotland, the Scottish National Party, and Scottish prime minister, and the foreign secretary, I praise their courage for having proved their independence in decision making despite the unacceptable and unreasonable measures that they faced. Nevertheless they took this courageously right and humanitarian decision."

He added: "And I say to my friend Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain, his government, the Queen of Britain, Elizabeth, and Prince Andrew, who all contributed to encouraging the Scottish government to take this historic and courageous decision, despite the obstacles."

Meanwhile, in an interview with a Libyan TV station, Gaddafi's son claimed that the issue had been raised repeatedly by Blair.

He said: "In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, (Megrahi] was always on the negotiating table."

One senior Labour source suggested last night that while Blair would not have laid down the offer of Megrahi's release formally, he may have given that impression to Gaddafi. The source said: "Gaddafi wouldn't be the first person to have walked away from a meeting with Tony thinking a deal was on. Just ask Gordon Brown." Blair visited Libya in May 2007, during which UK energy giant BP signed a 450m exploration deal.

Lord Mandelson said yesterday he had met Saif twice in the last year and acknowledged that the imprisonment of Megrahi had been raised. However, he insisted that the UK Government had not "bartered" over the prisoner's fate.

He added: "As I have already stated, on both occasions Mr Gaddafi raised the issue of the Libyan prisoner in Scotland's release as all representatives of the Libyan government do. They had the same response from me as they would have had from any other member of the government. The issue of the prisoner's release was entirely a matter for the Scottish justice minister. That is how it was left, that is how it was well understood."

Lord Mandelson also said it was "implausible" to suggest that a UK Labour minister would simply ring up the SNP administration in Edinburgh to urge them one way or the other.

But Hague said questions still needed to be answered. He said: "The government urgently needs to clarify the approach that it took to negotiations with Libya, including to the Libya/UK prisoner transfer treaty. We welcome Lord Mandelson's assurances today, and assume that he can now have no objection to the official records of his conversations being released."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown continued to remain silent on the question of whether Megrahi should have been sent back to Libya yesterday, despite calls from David Cameron for him to make his position clear. However, Downing Street released the text of Brown's letter to Gaddafi ahead of Megrahi's arrival home last week.

In it the Prime Minister said: "A high-profile return would cause further unnecessary pain for the families of the Lockerbie victims. It would also undermine Libya's growing international reputation."