The boss of the largest Harris tweed firm has dismissed claims it was downplaying its Scottish connection from a US marketing campaign because of fallout from the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

It had been widely reported that Harris Tweed Hebrides creative director Mark Hogarth planned to “de-Scottishify” the brand after outrage from America, including threats to boycott Scottish products.

But the Western Isles firm’s chief executive, Ian Angus Mackenzie, said today: “It’s all complete and utter nonsense.”

The comments were made just weeks after Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill released Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi from jail, where he was serving a life sentence for the 1988 bombing which killed 270 people.

The decision, made on compassionate grounds, sparked anger from US relatives of those killed and criticism from American politicians, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

It was reported that Mr Hogarth was “quite worried” over the potential impact on US sales of tweed.

He wanted to concentrate on the fabric’s island heritage, rather than its Scottish credentials.

But Mr Mackenzie said: “I found out about this on a plane from Stornoway this morning.

“Nobody spoke to me about this - it was a complete bolt from the blue.

“I’m just laughing about it because it’s so daft. It’s all complete and utter nonsense.”

He said he was on his way to a business meeting in Paris.

The company website describes its product as “iconic Scottish fabric”.

Mr Mackenzie said the US accounted for about 5% of its sales.