BROWN TOLD: END LOCKERBIE SILENCE; More pressure heaped on 'cowardly' PM.Byline: JAMES LYONS James Lyons can refer to:
GORDON Brown was last night under huge pressure from all sides to break his silence today on the Lockerbie bomber's release. Ex-minister and Labour MP Tom Harris Tom Harris may refer to:
He blasted: "Clearly the UK Government should have a view on this. I see no reason at all why UK ministers should not say something. "If they did disagree with a policy pursued north of the border there is no reason why they shouldn't say that." The PM caused more fury after finding time during his holiday to congratulate England's cricketers. Lord Fraser, Scotland's top lawyer when Megrahi was prosecuted for 270 deaths, accused the PM of talking about "soft targets" such as sport and Jade Goody's death but not Lockerbie. He said: "We have not heard a word from him and I think that is disgraceful." And shadow defence secretary Liam Fox blasted: "Gordon Brown is willing to give his opinion on Michael Jackson, he gave his opinion on racism in Big Brother, he has time to give his views on England's cricket team, but a deafening silence on the release of a mass murderer. I think it's cowardly." Dr Fox also said Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision to free terminally ill Terminally Ill When a person is not expected to live more than 12 months. Notes: Any gifts given out by the afflicted person at this time may be considered as a dispersion of the estate rather than a gift. Megrahi on compassionate grounds was against people's "senses of natural justice". Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the UK was "at the centre of an international storm" and it was "absurd and damaging that the PM remains silent in the hope someone else will take the flak". Freeing Megrahi, jailed for blowing up a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie in 1988, has sparked a backlash in the US and the threat of a trade boycott. Mr Brown's spokesman yesterday claimed it would be wrong for him to comment on a decision taken by an independent government run by the Scottish National Party Scottish National Party n → Partei, die für die Unabhängigkeit Schottlands eintritt . But No 10 condemned the hero's welcome Megrahi received when he arrived home in Tripoli last week. The PM, who has spent the summer in Scotland, will be put on the spot when he appears before TV cameras today. He is due in Downing Street for talks with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile Mr MacAskill was forced yesterday to defend his decision to a recalled Scottish Parliament, where Iain Gray, the Labour group's leader, accused him of making the "wrong decision, in the wrong way, with the wrong consequences". Mr MacAskill said he stood by his decision but accused the Libyans of going back on a promise that Megrahi would return home quietly to die. The Duke of York
The title Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, been usually given to the second son of the British monarch. will not go to Libya for an official visit next month after the Palace said there were "no plans". Meanwhile an ICM ICM Intercom ICM Integrated Crop Management ICM International Congress of Mathematicians ICM Information Classification and Management ICM Intelligent Contact Management (Cisco) ICM International Creative Management poll put Labour on 25% - two down on last month - with the Tories on 41% and Lib Dems on 19%. CAPTION(S): SHAKE Megrahi with Col Gaddafi's son Seif Al Islam RETURN Megrahi was given a hero's welcome in Libya |
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