Gnomic truths from Brown on the Megrahi row

The most interesting line in Gordon Brown’s statement today was the most gnomic. “Were we right to spell out to ourselves the consequences of both eventualities, whether it was a Scottish decision for his release or for him remaining in prison? Yes – to have failed to have done so… would’ve been failing in our duty.”

This is the nearest Gordon Brown comes to acknowledging the truth of the Libyan Europe minister’s recollection of what the former Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell told him in Libya.

Decoded, it is saying that the British government made an internal assessment of the scenarios and their likely consequences if Megrahi died in prison, and it came to the conclusion that it would be bad for British interests. In the words of one mandarin I spoke to: “If it were not to happen it would not be unwelcome.”

The government had a view it shared with the Libyans but not with the wider public. And that is the main charge (today). Gordon Brown in his statement today obliquely admits to the charge but insists it was an assessment made in the British national interest.

Gordon Brown also says he respects not just the right of the Scottish ministers to make the decision but that he respects the decision too. Alex Salmond leapt on that in the Holyrood debate and said the Scottish Labour Party should now pipe down in its criticism.