Didn't take long for this to bob to the surface like a turd in a punchbowl.
From The London Times:
Secret letters reveal Labour�s Libyan dealA bit more:
During the past year a small ship bristling with computers and seismic equipment has been crisscrossing the Gulf of Sidra, in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast. Its mission: to help to find BP�s next offshore oilfields.
The company�s search for oil off Libya and in a 20,000-mile area in the west of the country potentially offers as much as �15 billion in new revenue. But less than two years ago it was feared that the deal could founder � and the reason was wrangling over Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the jailed Lockerbie bomber.
BP was finally given the go-ahead six weeks after a volte-face by the British government to include Megrahi in a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya under which prisoners could serve out sentences in their home countries. Jack Straw, the justice secretary, revealed this decision in a letter to his Scottish counterpart. He cited �wider negotiations� and the �overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom�.
Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, said last weekend: �The idea that the British government and the Libyan government would sit down and somehow barter over the freedom or the life of this Libyan prisoner and make it form part of some business deal ... it�s not only wrong, it�s completely implausible and actually quite offensive.�It is not offensive -- it is far far worse. I wonder what Kenny MacAskill's political career will look like. Did he realize that he was being set up to take the fall? The next few weeks should prove interesting as more gets released...
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