Guido is certain that neither compassion, the hunt for WMDs or anti-terrorism were the real motive for the release of Abdel Basset Ali Megrahi.  Money was the motive.  Big money.  The released correspondence makes it apparent that the Libyans made it clear that if Britain wanted trade contracts, including the go ahead for BP’s massive oil exploration plans, then Megrahi had to be freed. There were many players who pushed this sordid deal behind the scenes, including Lord Mandelson, but the two key insiders who helped make it happen have so far escaped close scrutiny.

Nick Butler is the Economic Adviser brought into Downing Street when Gordon became Prime Minister.  Prior to that he was a senior strategist for BP. He joined the firm in 1977 and helped to develop close links between BP and New Labour in the 1990s becoming V.P. for Policy and Strategy Development from 2002-2006. Butler is also a Labour loyalist who has been treasurer of the Fabian Society for more than 25 years. According to the Guardian, “Since the 1980s, Butler has maintained and extended his political and commercial connections like a model member of the ‘successor generation’. He is close to Mandelson”

Sir Mark Allen is a Special Adviser to BP. Before that he was the senior MI6 officer who negotiated with Seif Gaddafi to end Libya’s international isolation in 2003-04.  Allen, a noted Arabist, is a regular visitor to Tripoli on behalf of BP and another firm he advises, the Monitor Group, which has won a lucrative contract to restructure the Libyan economy. When BP’s then Chairman, Lord Browne flew to Libya to discuss oil deals, Mark Allen was on the plane with him.

Two men; one ex-BP now at the heart of government, the other  ex-MI6 and now at the heart of BP.  They oiled the wheels to release a convicted mass murderer – and now BP will make billions.  That was the deal…