Labour's Libyan Links
"The Sunday Times can reveal that Imran Khand, who gave the (Labour) party £57,500, helped to arrange a £1.5 million donation from Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to the London School of Economics (LSE) after he had completed his PhD there, according to a damning inquiry into the institution's links with Libya.
The inquiry by Lord Woolf, the retired lord chief justice, discovered multiple failings in the LSE's decision to accept the donation from Gaddafi.
The donation from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Fioundation was brokered by Khand, as Scottish businessman. It led to rthe resignation of Sir Howard Davies as director of the LSE earlier this year.
Khand, a self-proclaimed philanthropist, made his fortune from Picsel Technologies, a software company. He was embroiled in controversy in 2007 when it emereged he had secretly given money to Labour through the organisation Muslim Friends of Labour.
(Sir Howard) Davies was appointed Blair's envoy to Libya after the country was brought back into the the fold by the western world. THe LSE, an institution with strong links to the Labour party, also played a key role in the rehabilitation of the Gaddafi regime."
Now regular readers will remember that a Scottish MP - South Lanarkshire's Adam Ingram - the former MP for East Kilbride also developed close business links with Libya - after he stepped down as UK defence minister.
Links which earned Adam Ingram a lucrative living - even while he continued in his day job as a backbench Labour MP at Westminster.
With the capture of the Libyan dictator's favourite son - Saif al-Islam Gaddafi - the questions about Labour's links with Libya will continue - and may open up new lines of inquiry.
Which is how it should be - to my mind.
Because while bringing Libya back from international isolation was the right thing for Labour to do - exploiting these links commercially and for personal gain - was much more questionable and morally dubious.
