The Megrahi debate

[This is the headline over an editorial in today's edition of The Herald. It reads in part:]

The defeat of the SNP government by the combined forces of the opposition achieved little more than token dissent, since there was no intention to move to a vote of no confidence. Given the strong feelings engendered by Megrahi's release and the international attention on the decision-making process in Scotland, this formal public demonstration of both the division of Scottish opinion and the scrutiny of the process was important.

Gordon Brown finally broke his silence on the situation to declare "there was no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to Colonel Gaddafi". That should have come sooner. More significantly politically, however, was his emphasis that he respected the right of Scottish ministers to make the decision - and the decision itself. Respect does not necessarily imply approval or agreement, but the wording laid embarrassingly bare the inconsistencies between the UK Labour government and Labour in Scotland. With the debate itself failing to elicit any more information than had already emerged from the documents published on Tuesday, Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray called for a "forensic" examination of Mr MacAskill's handling of the case in an inquiry by the Justice Committee. Such an inquiry would revisit the questions regarded as unanswered by the opposition parties: the necessity of Mr MacAskill's visit to Megrahi in jail, whether he took a sufficiently wide range of medical opinion and whether Megrahi could have remained in Scotland. All these issues will no doubt bear further scrutiny, but an inquiry is unlikely to reveal anything of real significance, and Mr Gray's call for one suggests that his interest is motivated by party-political point-scoring.

The same charge can be levelled at [UK Conservative Party leader David] Cameron's enthusiasm for an inquiry. Who said what to whom and when is not the main issue here. The further deterioration in Megrahi's condition yesterday reinforces the truth that he is terminally ill. There is no doubt that his release featured in diplomatic and commercial negotiations between the UK and Libya, but despite considerable coalescing of issues from some political interests, we should not lose sight of the fact that he was not released under the prisoner transfer agreement, but on compassionate grounds. The inquiry that is necessary is one that will finally uncover the truth behind the bombing of Pan Am 103 in December 1988.

[Unlike the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament, the UK Labour Government supports Kenny MacAskill's decision to release Mr Megrahi. As reported in today's edition of The Guardian:

'Gordon Brown risked alienating the Obama administration and British public opinion, when he finally admitted that he agreed with the Scottish executive's decision to release the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. (...)

'In a statement, Brown said: " I respect the right of the Scottish ministers to make the decision, and the decision." Number 10 acknowledged that his remarks were an endorsement of the early release.

'In a further embarrassment for the Labour party, Brown's support for the release was flushed out of him on the day that his Scottish Labour party colleagues helped pass a motion in the Scottish parliament condemning the release by 73 votes to 50.'

The Official Report (Hansard) on yesterday's debate can be read here.]