AS a former convener of Holyrood's Justice Committee, SNP MSP Christine Grahame must have known the answer she would get in calling on the First Minister to change the Government's view on the Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi conviction given the revelations in Kenny MacAskill's book (“Graham in plea over al-Megrahi”, The Herald, June 3). Presumably Ms Grahame was just wanting to draw attention to the case again, yet some would have preferred she had not given the murky deals involved here any more publicity.
The First Minister was right to say that it is not the Government's place to question decisions of the court, but equally her political instincts will be telling her to not get embroiled in an example of dirty politics that none comes out of well, including the SNP.
It is highly questionable whether someone who so recently held office as Justice Secretary should publish the political equivalent of a kiss-and -tell, but what Mr MacAskill has to say on the al-Megrahi affair is neither clear cut nor without scope for great embarrassment to the SNP Government.
Keith Howell,
White Moss, West Linton, Peeblesshire.
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