The Non-Answer

The Non-Answer

There was no way of avoiding it. The media had been invited - and even though Israel and the Middle East was meant to be the talking point, Lockerbie was all the UK press really wanted an answer to.

Gordon Brown strode into a room, somewhere on the first floor of Downing Street, the smile fixed on his face as he led Benjamin Netanyahu to the podiums before us. This wasn't a news conference we were told - this was "brief remarks" on the visit by the Israeli Prime Minister. This was the spin doctors doing their best to limit exposure the kryptonite of the "what did you think about..." question.

Brief, polite remarks came first. Then the question everyone wanted answered. "What did you think of the decision to free the Lockerbie bomber? What role did the British Government play in the decision?". Read them again. Pretty straight forward aren't they?

And so what did Gordon Brown say to the question that's haunted him for the last five days?

He said his thoughts were with the families who had lost loved ones in the disaster. And he was furious. Furious at the welcome Mr Megrahi received in Tripolii after being freed. He again told us he'd met Colonel Ghaddafi in the summer and was keen to welcome them back into the international fold now they'd given up ambitions to aquire nuclear weapons.

Ok! So read that again. No personal view about the decision. No view from the British government. No real answer to the question he'd been asked and the country wanted answered.

Gordon Brown surely can't believe his efforts in Downing Street will satisfy the clamour of the tabloids and his political opponents who want to know what he really thinks about the Lockerbie affair. It's a question that's simply not going to go away.