Straw: Megrahi included in PTA because of trade concerns 

One question that arises from the publication the Lockerbie documents is why Jack Straw suddenly decided against excluding al-Megrahi from the PTA? Straw justified his change of heart on the grounds of “overwhelming national interests”, though trade and commercial interests were not a contributing factor in that calculation, a point he reiterated last weekend. But, in an interview with the Telegraph today, Straw contradicts himself:

‘”Yes, it (trade deals with Libya) was a very big part of that (including al-Megrahi in the PTA). I’m unapologetic about that. Libya was a rogue state. We wanted to bring it back into the fold and trade is an essential part of it – and subsequently there was the BP deal.”‘

This revelation lends credence to Saif al-Islam’s insistence that Megrahi’s release or transfer was always a pre-condition of UK Libyan agreements, and undermines Straw’s, David Miliband’s, Lord Mandelson’s and Gordon Brown’s righteous indignation about being accused of ‘double dealing’.