The Friend of George Clooney Who Held the Pm to Account ; It Was Lawyer Jason Mccue Who Succeeded in Putting Libyan Compensation to Ira Victims Back On the Political Agenda. Now He Says He has Bp in His Sights [Edition 2]

Summary

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ONE MAN is responsible for the fact that Gordon Brown is still mired in the political slurry of the al-Megrahi row with Libya. That man is a preternaturally self-assured and wellconnected 40-year-old lawyer by the name of Jason McCue, who stoked the furore that has prolonged the PM's Libyan agony, but regards him a friend. It was McCue who at the weekend leaked the letters from ministers to his clients who are fighting for compensation from Libya for its culpability in IRA bombings. These letters seemed to betray a resounding official indifference to the quest for damages, prompting Sunday morning's headlines singling out Brown for blocking a deal. Thus, in the span of a weekend news cycle, the PM's autumn re- launch was stone dead.

Yet later that Sunday, McCue says a Downing Street official rang him, not to remonstrate but to ask: "What do you want?" McCue says he told the official he wanted London to make formal representations to Libya that a deal must be struck, and practical assistance from the Foreign Office in his dealings in Tripoli.

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The Friend of George Clooney Who Held the Pm to Account ; It Was Lawyer Jason Mccue Who Succeeded in Putting Libyan Compensation to Ira Victims Back On the Political Agenda. Now He Says He has Bp in His Sights [Edition 2]

He and his team of lawyers would conduct the negotiations with the Libyan government to secure millions of pounds for his 140 or so clients who have joined a class-action suit before an American court. McCue just wanted Brown to put the compensation settlement back on the political agenda.

And hey presto, a few hours later, in a stumbling performance at a joint press conference with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel,...

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