Gordon Brown is facing further questions over the UK government’s role in the Lockerbie bomber’s release after new details about discussions emerged.

Former Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell has confirmed he told Libya Mr Brown did not want to see Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi’s die in prison.

However, he denied having discussed this with the prime minister himself.

Mr Brown has so far declined to comment on the release but the Tories say he needs to be "straight" with the public.

Conservative leader David Cameron said the UK government now stood accused of "double dealing" and called for an inquiry.

He said: "The British prime minister has got to be straight with the British people.

"For weeks he’s been refusing to say publicly what he wanted to happen to Megrahi, yet we now learn apparently privately the message was being given to the Libyans that he should be released."

‘Scottish decision’

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill allowed Megrahi, who is terminally ill with cancer, to be freed from Greenock Prison on 20 August on compassionate grounds after rejecting his return to Libya under a prisoner transfer agreement.

Mr Brown and UK ministers have declined to say whether they supported freeing Megrahi, stressing it was a decision for the Scottish Government.

Mr MacAskill is due to defend his decision again in a Scottish Parliamentary debate later, during which the opposition parties are expected to unite to defeat the minority SNP government.

Among the documents released on Tuesday was a Libyan version of an exchange with Mr Rammell in February during which, it is claimed, he said Mr Brown and the foreign secretary did not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in a Scottish prison.

Mr Rammell, now armed forces minister, later insisted he made it clear to the Libyans during a visit to Tripoli that any decision on Megrahi had to come from Scottish ministers.

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Records of a meeting between Libyan Europe minister Abdulati Alobidi and Scottish officials on 12 March said: "Mr Alobidi spoke of Mr Bill Rammell’s visit to Tripoli in February and that they had discussed the matter of the prisoner transfer agreement.

"Mr Alobidi confirmed that he had reiterated to Mr Rammell that the death of Mr Megrahi in a Scottish prison would have catastrophic effects for the relationship between Libya and the UK.

"Mr Alobidi went on to say that Mr Rammell had stated that neither the prime minister not the foreign secretary would want Mr Megrahi to pass away in prison but the decision on transfer lies in the hands of the Scottish ministers."

‘Important partner’

When asked by the BBC if Mr Brown had told him that he did not want Megrahi to die in a Scottish prison, Mr Rammell replied: "No, I’ve not discussed this with the prime minister either before the event or after.

"I was responding to a specific concern that the Libyans put to me that they didn’t wish Al Megrahi to die in prison.

"In response to that in a conversation with my counterpart, I made clear that we were not actively seeking his death in prison but we emphatically, and this is what I said to him at the time, we emphatically would not intervene and it was a matter for Scottish ministers."

Other letters public by the UK and Scottish governments on Tuesday reveal UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw changed his mind about excluding the Lockerbie bomber from a proposed prisoner transfer agreement with Libya.

In a letter to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, on 11 February 2008, Mr Straw said Libya had become an "important partner in the fight against terrorism" and was helping to counter illegal immigration.

Megrahi was released eight years into a life sentence imposed for his part in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in December 1988, killing 270 people.

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