Gordon Brown sets out ‘Christian’ vision, urges more religion in public life

March 17, 2010

Gordon Brown has set out his ‘Christian’ vision of politics and said that religion should not just be tolerated, but encouraged in public life.

The Prime Minister’s comments come in a new book in which the three main party leaders write open letters to the churches.

“I have always believed that the public square is more than a marketplace. Our common realm is not and cannot be stripped of values – can never be merely a place for calculation, contract and exchange” Brown writes.

“So I do not subscribe to the view that religion should somehow be tolerated but not encouraged in public life – that you can ask people to leave their faith at the door when they enter a Town Hall or the Commons’ chamber.”

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/11540

Referring to the Christian contribution to British politics in general and the Labour Party in particular, he says that both congregations and Christian charities “have been Britain’s conscience on issues from debt cancellation to child poverty, to the good stewardship of the Earth.”

“The lessons of the gospels need not be kept separate from political life. If Christians engage with politics, we can together build a society where wealth helps more than the wealthy, good fortune serves more than the fortunate and riches enrich not just [the rich] That is why I entered politics, and [it is] the vision which inspires me still.”

In their respective contributions, David Cameron talks about the contribution of the churches to society and Nick Clegg about the contribution of children.

The book, entitled: “No Spin, Sleaze or Scandal…. Just politics” has been written jointly by Labour MP Andy Reed, Conservative MP Gary Streeter, Liberal Democrat MP Steve Clegg and Krish Kandiah, the Evangelical Alliance’s Executive Director of Churches in Mission.

The book, published by Authentic Media, is aimed at "political novices" and is being promoted as offering “spiritual inspiration for political involvement, practical advice for getting started, creative suggestions for connecting with digital democracy as well as stories, twitter feeds, interviews and case studies.”

• Full story at Ekklesia.

OUCH!

OBAMA SNUBS GORDON BROWN

Guardian, UK - Gordon Brown lurched from being hailed as a global statesman to intense embarrassment, after it emerged US President Barack Obama had turned down no fewer than five requests from Downing Street to hold a bilateral meeting at the United Nations in New York or at the G20 summit starting in Pittsburgh today. The prime minister, eager to portray himself as a leading player on the international stage in America, was also forced to play down suggestions from inside his own party that he might step down early, either due to ill health or deteriorating eyesight. There have been tensions between the White House and No 10 for weeks over Brown's handling of the Scottish government's decision to release the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. Brown's efforts to secure a prestigious primetime slot for his keynote speech at the general assembly in New York were also thwarted when the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, delivered a 100-minute speech to the UN, massively running over Brown's 15 minute slot.

-Guardian, UK

Brown 'raised release of bomber during Obama call'

Brown 'raised release of bomber during Obama call'


Published Date: 12 September 2009
By Craig Woodhouse
GORDON Brown raised the issue of the Lockerbie bomber's release during his phone call with Barack Obama, despite it originally being left out of Downing Street's summary of the leaders' conversation.
Mr Brown and the US president spent 40 minutes on the phone on Thursday. The Prime Minister's spokesman said it was a "really productive call".

Downing Street's original summary focused on discussions about the forthcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh and the situation in Afghanistan but made no mention of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi's release, while a White House statement said Mr Obama expressed his "disappointment" at the decision to free the bomber.

No 10 later confirmed that the leaders "exchanged views" on Megrahi's release but said the remarks about Lockerbie had not been included in their summary of the phone call because it was not appropriate for them to brief on what Mr Obama had said during the conversation.

Yesterday the Prime Minister's spokesman said it had actually been Mr Brown who had raised the issue, though it was only a "very small part" of the call.

http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Brown-39raised-release-of-bomber.5641247.jp

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Megrahi release: Obama hits out at Brown

Published Date: 11 September 2009
By Tom Peterkin
US PRESIDENT Barack Obama last night expressed his "disappointment" at the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber during a 40-minute phone call with Gordon Brown.
In their first direct discussions on the matter, the two leaders "exchanged views" on the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Mr Brown made it clear the decision had been a matter for the Scottish Government.

Following their conversation, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "The president expressed his disappointment over the Scottish Executive's decision to release convicted Pan Am 103 bomber al-Megrahi back to Libya."

When Megrahi returned to a hero's welcome in Libya last month, Mr Obama described the decision by the Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, acting in his quasi-judicial role, to grant the bomber compassionate release as a "mistake".

But last night was the first time that he has expressed his disapproval to the Prime Minister in person.

Although it was a Scottish decision to free Megrahi, Mr Brown has come under fire for failing to indicate whether or not he supported the move.

The controversy has also been fanned by suggestions that the man, convicted of killing the 270 victims of Pan Am flight 103 when it exploded over Lockerbie, was a pawn in trade negotiations between the UK and Libya.

Mr Obama and Mr Brown spoke by telephone to discuss preparations for a Group of 20 economic summit to be held in Pittsburgh later this month and also discussed the economic situation.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister admitted Lockerbie had been mentioned during the conversation.

The spokesman said: "It did come up, and the Prime Minister made it clear that it was a matter for the Scottish Government."

The spokesman declined to say whether Mr Obama or Mr Brown had raised the matter, but claimed that the call between the two men was "warm and substantive".

The release of Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal cancer, outraged the relatives of American victims of the atrocity, who are convinced that the former Libyan intelligence agent is guilty of the worst mass murder in British legal history.

Mr Obama's displeasure has led to speculation that Britain's handling of the case and its involvement in trade discussions with Libya could harm the "special relationship" between the UK and the United States.

Mr Brown's spokesman denied that was the case.

"The two leaders concluded that the special relationship was as strong as ever and that there continued to be good co-operation across the full global agenda," the No 10 spokesman said.

Earlier yesterday it emerged that the UK Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, will be questioned over the Megrahi's release by the Commons justice committee.

The cross-party group of MPs will question Mr Straw on the decision not to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement between the UK and Libya.

Last night the American relatives said they were "very pleased" that Mr Obama had made his feelings clear to Mr Brown and claimed that the special relationship was now under severe stress.

A backlash against the UK and Scotland has been seen across the US ever since Mr MacAskill took the decision to send Megrahi home.

The sight of Scottish saltires flying as Megrahi landed in Tripoli in front of cheering crowds was especially embarrassing to the UK and Scottish governments.

The Scottish Government has always insisted that the decision to release the bomber was the right one given that medical advice suggested Megrahi had just three months to live.

The American families have always said that his release went against an agreement struck between the US and Britain that said he should serve his entire life sentence in Scotland.

"I think the (US] administration's feeling is one of more than disappointment," said Frank Duggan, the Washington-based lawyer, who is president of Victims of Pan Am 103.

"I think the administration is really angry.

"People have been asking me 'what does this mean for the special relationship?' Well, I think it is in tatters."

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk/Megrahi-release-Obama--.5638572.jp#4415509

Things just get more surreal in the UK by the Day.

See you in court: Gaddafi son blocks payout for IRA bomb families after Brown U-turn over Libya compensation

By Tim Shipman
Last updated at 7:49 AM on 07th September 2009


The son of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi said today his country would resist demands from IRA victims for compensation after Gordon Brown launched a frantic damage limitation exercise over the Lockerbie scandal.

The Prime Minister announced that British diplomats would now assist the families of IRA bomb victims in lobbying the Libyan government for compensation.


But Saif al-Islam Gaddafi said any payouts arising from alleged Libyan arms supplies to the terror group would be a matter for 'the courts'.

And he condemned British politicians as 'disgusting and immoral' for using the case of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi to make political capital.

Of the looming British attempts to extricate compensation, the Libyan leader's son said: 'Anyone can knock on our door. You go to the court. They have their lawyers. We have our lawyers.'

And when asked if his answer to the compensation demand would be 'no' in the first instance, he replied: 'Of course.'

Asked whether the Prime Minister involved himself in the release of Megrahi, Mr Gaddafi said: 'He didn't.'

The discussions had been 'very, very technical', he told Sky News.

He added: "It couldn't be discussed at a high level. It is not something that should be discussed at a leadership level."


Only hours earlier Mr Brown announced that British diplomats would now assist the families of IRA bomb victims in lobbying the Libyan government for compensation.

But he refused to become personally involved or take up the issue directly with the Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi.

And he admitted that there was little prospect of success, conceding that ministers previously gave up trying to win compensation because of Libya's intransigence.

Nevertheless his intervention was welcomed by the victims' lawyer, Jason McCue.

'Now, with our PM's full support, I cannot see why this matter cannot be concluded swiftly in a matter of weeks and before parliament reconvenes,' he said.


Libyan leader Moammar Gaddaf: Provided Semtex to IRA bombers

The families have demanded cash from Tripoli because it was Libya which supplied the Semtex explosive used in IRA atrocities.

But leaked papers reveal that the Prime Minister blocked their campaign because he did not want to upset Gaddafi.

The revelation sparked claims that ministers abandoned the families of the dead because they were embroiled in a series of murky deals over trade, terrorism and the fate of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Al Megrahi.

In a second blow to Mr Brown, his role in the negotiations over the release of Megrahi was also laid bare.

It emerged that Justice Secretary Jack Straw wrote to the Prime Minister warning the Libyans might block a multi-million-pound BP oil deal unless Megrahi was included in a prisoner transfer deal he was thrashing out with Tripoli in 2007.

That directly contradicts a previous claim by Mr Straw that there was 'no paper trail' to Downing Street.

The revelations were particularly toxic for Mr Brown since they reinforced accusations that he has misled the public about the scope of Labour's secret ties to Tripoli.

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: 'When Gordon Brown said there was no double dealing, no deals for oil, I don't think he was being straight with people.'

Victims of the Lockerbie bombing itself, which claimed 270 lives when Pan Am Flight 102 exploded in 1988, have received payouts from Libya.


And the White House won compensation worth up to £7million each from Tripoli for those who lost family members to other Libyan-sponsored terrorist atrocities.

But more than 2,500 British families whose loved ones were killed by Semtex supplied to the IRA by Libya are still seeking cash payouts from the Gaddafi regime.

Colin Parry, whose 12-year-old son Tim was killed by an IRA bomb in Warrington, Cheshire, said it defied belief that American government had secured a settlement for its victims - while the British government had not.

'I can't see why the British government won't take a similarly robust position with Libya.

'It does make Britain look very, very weak and insignificant if, for reasons of worrying about oil deals or other economic considerations, this government of ours is prepared to disregard all the pain of the thousands of victims of IRA terrorism.'

In letters to campaigners last October, the Prime Minister made clear that his government had no intention of helping-them.

'The UK government does not consider it appropriate to enter into a bilateral discussion with Libya on this matter,' he told their lawyer Mr McCue.

Mr Brown used a press conference in Germany last night to announce his climbdown.

He said: 'I care enormously about the impact of all IRA atrocities on the victims, their families and friends.'


But he admitted that the Government just gave up when it became clear that the Libyans were not interested in doing a deal. And he implied that the wishes of terrorist victims would have to take second place to the need to placate the regime in Tripoli.

'Our priority has been to ensure that Libya supports the fight against terrorism and gives up its nuclear weapons,' he said. 'It is these concerns - not oil or commercial interests - that have long been the dominant feature of our relationship.'

In a statement, Mr McCue said: 'I am overjoyed that the PM has taken a principled decision and overruled the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He has listened to ordinary folk rather than bureaucrats.

'When we met the PM in December 2008, we knew we had his sympathy; he said he would consider this matter and today he has taken the side of ordinary folk and justice. It is a great day for victims.

'I am confident that his moral and logistical backing for the British victims of Libyan Semtex will ensure that they now receive justice and compensation, as did the U.S. victims when they received the support of their President.'

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: 'The Prime Minister's announcement is a stunning admission that the Government has failed to support the families of the victims of IRA terrorism in their pursuit of compensation from Libya.

'Gordon Brown and the government he leads have long lost their moral compass and this is just another example of the disastrous mess and muddle in which they find themselves on the Megrahi affair.'

SPIES' SECRET SUMMIT

Tony Blair approved a secret meeting with Libyan spies in 1993 at which the fate of the bomber was thrashed out.

Three Libyan intelligence chiefs met four senior British security officials and two U.S. spies at the Travellers' Club in Pall Mall, a favourite haunt of MI6 officers.

The discussions, held three days before Mr Blair announced that Colonel Gaddafi was abandoning his weapons of mass destruction programme, were a key step in the normalisation of relations with Libya. Even then Libyan officials stressed their interest in the case of Megrahi, then three years into his sentence.

Two days later Mr Blair held his own telephone talks with Gaddafi.

MPs are to investigate whether the meeting paved the way for the trade deals and release of the bomber which followed.

A spokesman for Tony Blair said: 'Mr Blair fully supports the decision to integrate Libya back into the international community. However, the decision on Mr Megrahi was not one Mr Blair had any role in whatsoever.'
TERROR CHIEF'S THREAT

The bomber's release was negotiated by a former 'terror mastermind' who is one of Colonel Gaddafi's closest confidants.

Mousa Kousa, now Libya's foreign minister, threatened Britain that trade with his country would be damaged unless it agreed to send Megrahi home.

Minutes of a January meeting in Edinburgh reveal that he told Scottish officials: 'Megrahi's death in Scotland would not be viewed well by Muslims or Arabs. Nor would it be good for relations.'

His role has laid bare the degree to which British officials-have been forced to deal with questionable characters when negotiating closer links with Libya.

Kousa is accused by some intelligence sources of being the architect of the Lockerbie bombing. He was expelled from Britain in 1980 when head of the Libyan Embassy for publicly threatening to kill Libyan dissidents. He later became Libyan intelligence chief.

But he was invited back to London in 2003 to attend the secret meeting in the Travellers' Club which set the seal on closer Western links to Libya, and where Megrahi's fate was also discussed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211637/Browns-terror-U-turn-Well-help-seek-cash-Libya-bomb-families-told.html

Jack Straw comes clean: Oil was a big part of Lockerbie deal

By Jason Groves and Tim Shipman
Last updated at 1:36 AM on 05th September 2009


Jack Straw said trade played a 'very big part' in his decision to make it possible for Megrahi to be sent home

Jack Straw has admitted for the first time that trade and oil deals with Libya played 'a very big part' in the handling of the Lockerbie bomber's case.

The Justice Secretary said trade was a major influence on his decision to include Abdelbaset Al Megrahi in a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya signed two years ago, just as BP was seeking a multi-billion pound deal there.

The admission casts grave doubt on Gordon Brown's claim this week that there had been 'no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil'.

Mr Straw said: 'Libya was a rogue state. We wanted to bring it back into the fold. And yes, that included trade because trade is an essential part of it.'

Mr Straw's remarks reignited the furore about Labour's handling of the affair.

The Prime Minister insisted earlier this week that the dominant factor in British policy was not oil or commercial interests but the need to bring the former pariah state on board in the fight against international terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

But Mr Straw undercut that assertion, saying that trade played 'a very big part' in his decision to make it possible for Megrahi to be sent home.

The revelation is highly damaging as it is the first time such a senior figure has confirmed that ministers were so keen to improve relations with Libya they were prepared to make concessions over the bomber.

Mr Straw had earlier confirmed that he had received two calls from Sir Mark Allen, a former MI6 officer then working for BP, about a planned prisoner transfer agreement with Libya.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Mr Straw insisted that the decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds last month was made by the Scottish Executive and did not involve the prisoner agreement. But he said he was 'unapologetic' about paving the way for him to go free.


Documents released earlier had shown Mr Straw assuring the Scottish Government in 2007 that Megrahi would be excluded from any prisoner transfer agreement.

In December that year, however, he told Edinburgh officials he had been unable to secure an exemption for Megrahi but had decided to go ahead with the deal 'in view of the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom'.

Asked on Friday night whether trade was a factor in his decision, Mr Straw said: 'Yes... a very big part of that. I'm unapologetic about that. Libya was a rogue state... We wanted to bring it back into the fold.

'And yes, that included trade because trade is an essential part of it and subsequently there was the BP deal.'

In January 2008, a few weeks later, Libya ratified a £550million oil deal with BP which could be worth £15billion to the company.

Mr Straw confirmed that Sir Mark called him in October and November 2007. The conversations came after the BP agreement to search for oil ran into difficulties in Tripoli.

BP, which had previously denied lobbying on the issue, confirmed that it had raised the progress of the prisoner transfer agreement with Mr Straw.

But the company added: 'In making that point to the Government, we were not talking about the Megrahi case because we were fully aware that this was solely a matter for the Scottish Executive and not the UK authorities.'

Megrahi was serving a life sentence in a Scottish jail after being convicted of planting the bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 that killed 270 people in 1988.

A spokesman for Mr Straw said his conversations with Sir Mark 'did not tell him anything of which he was not already aware'.

Mr Straw insisted that Mr Brown had not been involved in the decision to press ahead with the prisoner transfer deal, saying: 'I certainly didn't talk to the PM. There is no paper trail to suggest he was involved at all.'

But his admission will raise new questions about the Prime Minister's handling of the affair, which has been widely criticised.


Different story: Gordon Brown's claim there was 'no deal on oil' is undermined by Mr Straw's comments

Critics and allies alike have expressed frustration with Mr Brown's reluctance to reveal the full extent of contacts and discussions between British ministers and Colonel Gaddafi's men.

There was fury in the U.S., home of most of the Lockerbie victims, when it emerged that a minister had told the Libyan regime privately that neither Mr Brown nor Foreign Secretary David Miliband wanted Megrahi to die in jail.

Mr Straw's candid response will also strengthen calls for an independent inquiry into Labour's relations with the Libyan dictator.

Shadow Foreign Minister David Lidington, repeating David Cameron's call for a probe, said: 'Jack Straw should explain why he rushed this agreement through without giving Parliament time to examine it fully. This revelation further strengthens the case for a full independent inquiry.'

Liberal Democrat spokesman Ed Davey said ministers' honesty as well as their judgment was now in question.

Gordon Brown: There Was No "Double-Dealing" Over Lockerbie Bomber

EDINBURGH, Scotland — Scottish lawmakers held a symbolic vote Wednesday to disapprove of the Lockerbie bomber's release, as the British government emphatically denied that Abdel Baset al-Megrahi's freedom was motivated by economic or diplomatic reasons.

The Scottish government had asked the parliament to endorse the decision as "consistent with the principles of Scottish justice." But by a 73-50 vote with one abstention, legislators backed an opposition amendment condemning Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision as mishandled – and saying they disagreed with the government's actions in freeing the Libyan convicted in the 1988 explosion that killed 270 people.

"Releasing the Lockerbie bomber was a bad decision, made badly," Annabel Goldie, a Conservative Party member in the Scottish Parliament.

The vote is largely symbolic and was not an attempt to topple the Scottish government. MacAskill has said he released al-Megrahi because the Libyan was dying of terminal prostate cancer and compassionate releases are a key part of Scottish justice.

Criticism over the Lockerbie bomber's Aug. 20 release intensified Wednesday, despite the disclosure of confidential British and Scottish documents and denials that the release was linked to Britain's growing ties to Libya.

After keeping silent for days, Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered his strongest denial yet that no promises had been made to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi over the fate of the 57-year-old al-Megrahi – the only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

There was no conspiracy, no cover up, no double dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers," Brown said emphatically. "We made absolutely clear to the Libyans and everybody else that this was a decision for the Scottish government."

Questions are now turning to everything that still hasn't been said – or disclosed.
Story continues below


Britain's opposition Conservative Party wants an inquiry into al-Megrahi's release, but the results will unlikely appease the families of bombing victims.

Countering the compassionate release argument, critics point to the lives lost during the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Some have also questioned why Brown hasn't come out in support or against the release.

The British government released the documents Tuesday in an attempt to quell speculation that it had pushed al-Megrahi's release to boost economic cooperation with Libya. But the documents fanned more resentment in the United States, where al-Megrahi's release was vehemently opposed.

Although the documents contain several references to British authorities deferring to Scotland on a potential release, they also contain repeated mentions of how important U.K.-Libyan relations had become. One document also showed that the British justice secretary did not want to exclude al-Megrahi from a possible prisoner transfer agreement – another way that al-Megrahi could have been released if Scotland didn't free him on compassionate grounds.

Britain has regional governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that are responsible for local issues but retains power over foreign policy.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband confirmed details in the documents that suggested Britain had not sought to have al-Megrahi serve out his life sentence in a Scottish prison.

"We did not want him to die in prison, no, we weren't seeking his death in prison," Miliband told the BBC on Wednesday.

Miliband did not elaborate, but some in the Arab world would have been suspicious about any death in custody.

In Tripoli, Libya, al-Megrahi was reportedly taken to intensive care Wednesday, according to family members who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for the explosion, Britain's worst terrorist attack. He has long maintained his innocence.

Lawyers have said the evidence used to convict him was largely circumstantial – prosecutors said he bought clothes from a shop on the Mediterranean island of Malta that were packed around the bomb before it was placed on the plane.

Just days before Scotland approved his release on compassionate grounds, al-Megrahi's attorneys dropped his appeal against his conviction so he could be eligible for release.

Analysts at the time of the bombing pointed fingers toward Iran and Syria, not Libya, and said evidence was weak.

___

Associated Press writers David Stringer and Jill Lawless in London and Alfred De Montesquiou in Tripoli, Libya, contributed to this report.


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Too Little Too Late, Mr. Brown

Gordon Brown 'angry' and 'repulsed' by Lockerbie bomber's welcome in Libya

Aug 25 2009

GORDON BROWN said today he was "angry" and "repulsed" at the reception given to the freed Lockerbie bomber in Libya - but still declined to say if he agreed with the decision to release him.

Speaking for the first time on the subject, the Prime Minister insisted the British Government had "no role" in the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, but went on to say that his determination to fight terror remained "absolute".

He also dismissed suggestions that the decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary would undermine Britain's relationship with the US and its other allies against terrorism.

Asked whether he thought it was the right or wrong decision to release Megrahi, Mr Brown said his first thoughts had been with the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing.

Speaking in Downing Street, he went on: "I was both angry and I was repulsed by the reception that a convicted bomber guilty of a huge terrorist crime received on his return to Libya.

"When I met (Libyan leader) Colonel Gaddafi over the summer, I made it absolutely clear to him that we had no role in making the decision about Megrahi's future.

"Because it was a quasi-judicial matter, because it was a matter legislated for by the Scottish Parliament and not by us, it was amatter over which we could not interfere and had no control over the final outcome.

"I want to make it absolutely clear, however, that whatever the decision that was made on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Parliament, our resolve to fight terrorism is absolute, our determination to work with other countries to fight and to root out terrorism is total, and we want to work with countries - even countries like Libya, who have renounced nuclear weapons now and want to join the international community - we want to work with them in the fight against terrorism around the world."

Mr Brown's comments, his first in public since last week's release of Megrahi, came as he faced reporters in Number 10 following talks with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/2009/08/25/gordon-brown-angry-and-repulsed-by-lockerbie-bomber-s-reception-in-libya-86908-21623464/

So why is Brown silent on release of Megrahi?

So why is Brown silent on release of Megrahi?

Published Date: 22 August 2009
By GERRI PEEV
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown came under intense pressure last night to end his silence over the Lockerbie bomber – amid claims Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's release was linked to trade deals with the UK.
And Tory leader David Cameron wrote to Mr Brown demanding to know what conversations had gone on between Westminster, the Libyan authorities and the Scottish Government that paved the way for the decision to free Megrahi.

The Prime Minister was under the spotlight as US president Barack Obama described Megrahi's homecoming as "highly objectionable".

Last night, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam, reportedly said the bomber's release had been linked to trade deals with Britain – a claim swiftly denied by the Foreign Office.

He also told a TV interviewer that Megrahi's release was a "victory" for all Libyans.

Mr Cameron said Britain's international reputation was at stake because of Megrahi's release, and while other governments had commented, "Britain's own Prime Minister has not".

Mr Brown's reluctance to make a statement was in sharp contrast to his quick reaction to other, less important events. Just hours after the death of reality TV star Jade Goody, the Prime Minister released a statement saying the whole country admired her determination. He also reacted quickly to the death of Michael Jackson and commented on the troubles of Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle.

Last night, the top story on the Downing Street website was a video message from Mr Brown to Muslims around the world for Ramadan. There was no mention of Lockerbie.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Mr Brown had sent a letter to Tripoli warning Col Gaddafi not to mark the return of Megrahi with jubilant scenes – a plea that appeared to have been largely ignored after the man convicted of 270 murders after the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 received a hero's welcome. Mr Brown had asked that Col Gaddafi "act with sensitivity" over Megrahi's return.

In an interview published today, Megrahi said he was "very, very happy" to be free. He said: "This was my hope and wish – to be back with my family before I pass away … I always believed I would come back if justice prevailed."

Downing Street continued to maintain a silence over whether Mr Brown believed Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill had made the correct decision in releasing the man responsible for Britain's biggest terrorist atrocity. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Mr Brown had made clear that it was the Scottish Government's decision to release him.

Mr Brown, who is still officially on holiday but is now in charge of running the country, appeared to have no time to make a statement on the impact to Britain of the release.

He did, however, break away from his vacation to make other official statements, including praising British troops in Afghanistan. He also attended a one-hour meeting with Rose Gentle, the Scottish anti-war campaigner who lost her son in the Iraq war.

Mr Cameron – who has said that the decision to release Megrahi was wrong – urged Mr Brown to make a statement, pointing out Britain's standing in the world was threatened by Mr MacAskill's decision to grant Megrahi compassionate release.

The Conservative leader wrote: "We are entitled to know what you and your ministers have said to the Libyan authorities on the matter and to the Scottish justice secretary. Above all, I believe that the public are entitled to know what you think of the decision to release Megrahi and whether you consider it was right or wrong.

"The fact that the decision was taken by the Scottish justice secretary does not preclude you, as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from now expressing your opinion on a subject that is of great public concern and which affects Britain's international reputation and our relations with our allies."

Earlier, Foreign Secretary David Miliband also side-stepped questions about what the UK government felt about the decision.

Mr Miliband, who previously made sure that the background papers to the Lockerbie case would be kept secret for ever, slapping a public interest immunity certificate on the files, yesterday condemned the scenes greeting Megrahi on his return to Libya as "distressing".

"The sight of a mass murderer getting a hero's welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, deeply distressing, above all for the 270 families who grieve every day for the loss of their loved ones," he said.

The Foreign Secretary also angrily dismissed suggestions that the UK government had wanted Megrahi to be released so that commercial relations with the oil-rich north African state could be improved.

"I reject that entirely," he said. "That is a slur both on myself and the government."

And he warned Libya that the eyes of the world were on the country. "I think it's very important that Libya knows – and certainly we have told them – that how the Libyan government handles itself in the next few days after the arrival of Mr Megrahi will be very significant in the way the world views Libya's re-entry into the civilised community of nations," he said.

First Minister Alex Salmond, who also condemned the scenes of jubilation, defended the Scottish Government's decision.

"We made a difficult and controversial decision for the right reasons," he said.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray cited the "sickening" scenes in Tripoli and criticism in the Libyan press of the Scottish justice system.

He said that, as well as reaching a wrong decision, the justice secretary had announced it in a "badly judged" statement which showed naivety and a lack of understanding of the international repercussions.

The scenes in Tripoli are also threatening a planned visit to Libya by the Duke of York.

The duke's spokesman said the trip in early September had been "in its planning stages". He added: "We will continue to take advice from the Foreign Office as we do with all overseas royal visits."

Last night, in a final act of legal tidying up, the Crown Office formally dropped its appeal against the "leniency" of Megrahi's original sentence – a minimum term of 27 years.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/So-why-is-Brown-silent.5578577.jp