Brown's U-turn on victims of Libya.

GORDON Brown was yesterday forced to offer his support to the families of IRA victims seeking compensation from Libya.

This followed fury over a revelation he had told them it wouldn't be "appropriate" to get involved. Brown said he would provide Foreign Office staff to assist the victims.

Diplomats at the British Embassy in Tripoli would accompany and advise them when seek direct talks with Colonel Gaddafi in the next few weeks.

Speaking in Berlin, where he was holding talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel, Brown said: "I care enormously about the impact of IRA terror on victims and their families and on our communities."

Successive governments had raised the issue of Libyan support for the IRA, Brown said. Libya supplied Semtex to republican bomb-makers in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s.

But Brown said the Government judged the best way of seeking compensation was not through official talks with Libya but by supporting the families's legal battle.

The US has already secured compensation of $1.5billion for American victims of Libyan-sponsored terror.

But it emerged yesterday that Brown had written to lawyers of the British victims last year to tell them it would not be "appropriate" for ministers to press Libya on the issue because it might jeopardise relations.

Downing Street rejected suggestions the PM was fearful of undermining lucrative oil and trade deals.

Brown's close Cabinet ally Ed Balls claimed the overriding objective was to encourage Libya to cooperate over terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

The victims' lawyer, Jason McCue, said he believed the compensation claim could now be cleared up in weeks.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said: "This is a stunning admission that the Government has failed to support the families of the victims of IRA terrorism in their pursuit of compensation from Libya."

CAPTION(S):

PAYOUTS: Brown