One of the biggest outrages of modern times has been the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
Today in the Commons, I pressed for truth on the Lockerbie bomber and asked the Foreign Secretary if devolution was a fig leaf used by last Government in order to secure the release of a mass murderer for dubious commercial purposes
I asked:
"Does the Foreign Secretary not agree that the previous Government hid behind the fig leaf of devolution, in order to release a mass terrorist on dubious commercial grounds? Will he take steps to ensure that such a thing never happens again?"
In his reply, the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said the Cabinet Secretary - the most senior Civil Servant in Britain - would personally publish a report in the near future to answer these concerns.
The exchange today followed a revelation in the Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8296368/WikiLeaks-files-reveal-cold-callous-and-brutal-behaviour-of-ministers.html) that ex-Labour Minister and former MP for Harlow Bill Rammell had written to Libyan officials giving them detailed legal advice about how to ensure the release of al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
This casts doubt on the repeated claims of the last Labour Government that there had been no "double dealing" in order for BP to secure lucrative oil contracts with the Libyan Government.
Since July 2010, I have campaigned in Parliament for the British public to be told the full truth about the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
I have asked several written questions of the Prime Minister who has promised in reply that all the documents will be released soon.
I also tabled a Parliamentary motion and raised this directly only three weeks ago with the Minister for Justice in a Commons debate saying:
"Many of my constituents in Harlow, and others across the country, are worried that the former Prime Minister [Gordon Brown] or his colleagues did a secret deal on the release of al-Megrahi to help BP win oil contracts with Libya, and that devolution was used as a fig leaf for commercial purposes. It is a serious accusation to make. But everyone is anxious to know the real facts.
My Parliamentary motion in July 2010 states a deep regret that "the Lockerbie bomber, a mass-murderer convicted by British courts, was let out of prison early on dubious health grounds, and with allegations of murky commercial interests" and goes on to call on the Government that "never again will a mass-murderer, convicted by British courts, be let out of prison and sent back to a dictatorship where he was welcomed as a hero and now lives in freedom".
Background:
1) Robert Halfon's Parliamentary Motion 20 July 2010: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?
EDMID=41532&SESSION=905
2) Robert Halfon's written questions to the Prime Minister:
a) 06 Sept 2010 http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2010-09-06c.12936.h&s=libya+speaker:24784#g12936.q0
b) 02 Nov 2010 http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2010-11-02a.20828.h&s=libya+speaker:24784#g20828.q0
c) 21 Dec 2010 http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2010-12-21a.30878.h&s=libya+speaker:24784#g30878.q0
3) Robert Halfon's statement in a Parliamentary Debate 11 January 2011: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?
id=2011-01-11b.53.0&s=libya+speaker:24784#g55.0
4) The Telegraph article naming Bill Rammell:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8296368/WikiLeaks-files-reveal-cold-callous-and-brutal-behaviour-of-ministers.html
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