THE DISGRACE OF LOCKERBIE

No one can deny any longer that the whole issue of responsibility for the mass murder of 270 people in a jet over Lockerbie in 1988 is a national disgrace which in its turn has raised other questions, some of them concerning the position of the Scottish Executive within the framework of national foreign policy. Followers of the sometimes tortuous twists and turns of Scottish political life are used to its chief officials, especially Mr Salmond, visibly elbowing their way to the front row of every issue, always with a 'Made in Scotland' tag attached to their intervention. The recent visit of Mr McAskill, Justice Minister, to Ali Megrahi, convicted for the crime, should have had no significance, nor even any purpose. Now Scotland has been placed in the international limelight; McAskill is alleged to be about to make a decision on Megrahi's release; the American Secretary of State has applied a little pressure on him; Salmond is silent; and it now appears that the dog of Britain's foreign policy is being wagged by its devolved Scottish tail. Next week should be interesting.