Pressure is mounting on Gordon Brown to set up an inquiry to resolve the serious but unanswered questions regarding the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, namely Who, What, Where, When, How and Why?
The prime minister called a press conference today in an attempt to face down his critics, who claim that he has been strangely reticent to say what, if anything, he thinks about the release of a man who may or may not be dying of cancer, who may or may not have planted a bomb aboard the ill-fated airliner, whose trial may or may not have been compromised by US and British security services, to a country which may or may not be our ally in the war on terror, in a deal which may or may not be linked to trade and which may or may not have been urged on the Scottish Parliament by Westminster.
"I may or may not order an inquiry into the release of this evil terrorist who may or may not be the victim of a terrible miscarriage of justice," declared a confident Mr Brown. "Or I may or may not set one up to look into his conviction. Then again, it may or may not be up to me. The decision may or may not be the prerogative of the SNP-dominated Scottish Parliament, whose decision to release this man may or may not have been influenced by the wishes of the Labour government in London."
Britain's papers are now so chock-full of questions about al-Megrahi's release that they are leaking out all over the place. An assistant manager at the Ealing Broadway branch of WH Smith told reporters:
"That's the fourth bin-bag of Lockerbie questions I've had to sweep up and put into a skip, and that's just today. In the last week or so I think I've seen every question that can possibly be asked about Lockerbie inquiries, except for three: How Much Will It Cost, Does It Really Matter and Is There Nothing Else Going On In The World Right Now That We Might Conceivably Want To Know About?"
"But I don't suppose anybody's interested in those," he shrugged.
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