Tories demand full details of Salmond trip to the Gulf

A ROW has broken out over a trip by Alex Salmond to the Gulf states next week.

The First Minister is travelling to Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai to strengthen Scotland’s economic and energy links with the region. But it emerged two years ago that the fate of the Lockerbie bomber was raised during talks between Salmond and the Qatari government, which later called for his release.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was subsequently freed on compassionate grounds, but the Tories are now calling for full details of the forthcoming meetings to be made public.

Tory justice spokesman John Lamont said: “It is important that thorough notes and minutes of meetings held on the trip are taken and published.

“This way we can be assured as to the extent Mr Salmond is willing to go to cajole Arab financial support.”

But justice secretary Kenny MacAskill’s spokesman accused the Tories of “astonishing hypocrisy”.

He said: “The only people who suggested anything improper to the Scottish Government were the Tory peer Lord Trefgarne – who wanted commercial interests to play a part in a decision in favour of Megrahi’s release – and the Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski, who wrote to the justice secretary saying that Megrahi should be used as a foreign policy ‘bargaining chip’.”