Can Brown Survive Lockerbie Storm?

As the Lockerbie plot thickens, double dealing Brown and his shady bunch of ministers are lying and tying themselves into knots. The struggling Supreme Leader may have returned to the fray refreshed from hols but Cameron is waiting in the wings ready to stick in the knife. The prime minister's position is looking precarious. All roads lead to Brown, thunders The Times.

Lockerbie's dirty little secrets are beginning to unravel, albeit slowly. What is becoming clear is there's more to al-Megrahi's release than just a shabby deal over oil.

More likely is a need to put a stop to al-Megrahi's hugely embarrassing appeal which could have cleared his name and laid bare the dirty secrets of the whole Lockerbie outrage.

Al-Megrahi’s release had been on the cards for some time in a carefully orchestrated plot to stop his appeal, hide the truth over the bombing and to get hold of Libya's oil and gas.

The decision to drop an appeal against conviction was part of a deal. That appeal would have laid bare failings in the original verdict and the manipulation of evidence.

The heat is on beleaguered Brown with documents showing he wanted al-Megrahi to die a free man. It seems easier for the government to take the flak and suffer the fall out from the 'oil for prisoner' row than open up the can of worms of the al-Megrahi conviction.

The Orange Party has long held this view and outlined the case here. Both the Mail and Jon Snow at Channel 4 News are coming round to similar conclusions.

Everyone knew there was something decidedly dodgy about the decision to release al-Megrahi. Macavity Brown's silence just made matters worse.

A simple and straightforward: "I didn't want him to die in prison" and the country would have moved on. Instead the public has suffered silence, manipulation and media management, passing the buck on to the Scottish government and treating the public like fools.

Yesterday's publication of some of the correspondence between Westminster and Holyrood didn't take the heat off Brown, it just threw up even more awkward questions over his handling of the affair.

Now the fag-end government and wretched prime minister stand accused of double-dealing, something they vehemently deny. But then they would wouldn't they?

Over the Pond, the Lockerbie fall-out is the final straw in strained US relations. The NY Daily News pulls no punches, branding the PM: Brown the Betrayer.

Both president Obama and secretary of state Clinton have publicly condemned al-Megrahi's release.

With nine months tops to go before the general election, both Brown and Cameron want to get on with doing what they do best - point-scoring at every opportunity.

But Cameron is not going to let this go easily. The Tories say Brown needs to be "straight" with the public accusing the government of "double dealing" and calling for an inquiry.

For the Tories it's a gift and boils down to trust - something sadly lacking in two-faced Brown and his deluded government.

Lockerbie is another nail in the coffin of the public's lack of trust in a government which wriggles and spins at every twist and turn.

Picture: Gerald Scarfe, Sunday Times