Liberal Vision

MacKaskill : a man out of his depth

The decision to release the convicted Libyan bomber was botched from start to end. Lets ignore for a moment the unelected Business Secretary’s involvement in the process.

1. Why did MacKaskill – the Scottish Justice Secretary – feel the need to MEET the convicted bomber ? There was no need. Representations could and should have been made in writing without the need to actually go and have a chat with the man.

2. Why did the bomber drop his appeal immediately following that meeting ? What was said at that meeting that led to that extraordinary decision? Under Scots law, dropping an appeal is not a necessary precondition of compassionate release.

3. Why was the decision released to the media BEFORE the relatives of the victims or the Scottish parliament were told?

All round this was handled about as ineptly as it could have been. Why? My suspicion is because it did involve business deals with Libya, pressure from the Business Secretary and the Prime Minister, and the desire for the appeal not to be heard (quite possibly where failings in the original trial would be highlighted). That led to hurried and poor decisions being made. Overall, I am afraid this speaks of (yet another) senior official,when really tested, just not being up to the job.

The Scottish parliament meet this afternoon in an emergency session. I doubt that anything satisfactory will come out of the emergency debate. But will watch with interest.

I hope that the Lib Dems will continue to put pressure on the Prime Minister to be questioned on this. Why parliament is in recess for so long – when important issues of state go unexamined and unexplained – is beyond me.

Gordon Brown : a man with no sense of priorities

Gordon Brown has been under pressure, for several days now, to say something about the release of the convicted Libyan bomber, Abdulbaset al-Megrahi.

And rightly so. After all Colonel Gaddaffi has gone public thanking “his friend” Gordon Brown for the release of al Megrahi. And Gaddffi’s son has made it clear that the convicted bomber was always part of Libya’s discussions with Britain on oil and other trade. But to date, nothing from our Prime Minister.

Last night I was listening to the radio five live news (Sunday 2230) and I hear that Downing Street are describing the England Ashes victory as ”exhilarating”  and that “Gordon Brown will be writing to the captain Andrew Strauss to congratulate the team”.

Can someone tell me how it can be construed as, in anyway, appropriate to maintain radio silence on the release of Megrahi, yet come out promptly to comment on a game of cricket?