Brown and the Consequences of al-Megrahi's Release

As the scandal around the al-Megrahi release rumbles on, it is worth looking at just how this particular scandal affects the Prime Minister. Make no mistake about it, this situation has all the hallmarks of being a classic Brown manoeuvre. It is a clear own goal, created by Brown's own refusal to make a difficult choice himself and his further refusal to be in anyway open about what has happened except under supreme duress. Whichever way this went, it would have been a controversial decision. You could not please everyone, regardless of whether it was decided that al-Megrahi should die in a Scottish prison or as a hero in Libya. Nonetheless, the way this decision was taken, communicated and then pathetically justified truly shows it to be the act of a cowardly government run by a cowardly Prime Minister and works to make no-one happy with it.

Perhaps most worrying for people in the UK is the response of the US to this decision. Without a shadow of a doubt, it will have done damage to the fabled "special relationship" that Britain has with the United States of America. As one US editorial states:

As for the "special relationship" between the U.S. and Britain, the storied alliance built on the resolve of World War II and carried on through Thatcher and Blair, through Iraq and Afghanistan: It is, in a word, gone.

Now, the extent to which the special relationship has been killed off over this prisoner release is open to question. If it can survive the Suez crisis, then it will survive this. Perhaps the more interesting part of the linked article is this section:

(Rebuilding the special relationship) ...will fall to someone else, someone who values human life more than commercial expediency, someone who is stalwart rather than a sneak, someone true to his pronouncements.

The special relationship between the UK and the US will survive. But Brown's relationship with the US appears to be over. The article makes it very clear that a lot of people in the US now despise Brown, and see him as a compromiser and appeaser of those connected with terrorism. When Blair crashed from popularity in this country, he could always retreat to posturing with the President in the US. Something tells me that Brown is going to be even less welcome in the Oval Office than ever now.

Contrary to what some are saying, this isn't the death knell of Brown's administration. It might sound like it, but truth be told Brown has had enough death knells in his time as Prime Minister to fill a bell-ringer's CD of Greatest Hits. He'll plod on, even if a junior minister in the English or Scottish governments does have to fall over this scandal. The Labour party doesn't have the stomach to force Brown from power, and there is no other mechanism to get him out of office until the General Public gets to vote at the next General Election. As unedifying an example of British government and justice as the release of al-Megrahi has been, it is simply just another jarring and embarrassing indicator of how low British politics has become. All this has shown us is how badly we need a new government, and it brings into sharp relief just how long it is until we get that government - even though the wait can now be counted in months.