[snowsislander]

Jack Straw has reignited the row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber by admitting for the first time that trade and oil were an essential part of the Government’s decision to include him in a prisoner transfer deal with Libya.

The Justice Secretary said he was unapologetic about including Abdelbaset al Megrahi in the agreement, citing a multi-million-pound oil deal signed by BP and Libya six weeks later.

That's an unusual admission.

[Winniesboy]

Less unusual if you look at the detail of what Straw actually said. He’s making a distinction between a prisoner transfer deal (which isn’t about freeing prisoners, only about returning them to country of origin to complete sentences), and actually setting somebody free. Given the country in question, the distinction is distinctly technical, but from a lawyer’s point of view (and Straw is a lawyer), undoubtedly real.