An inquiry should be held into the release of the dying Lockerbie bomber, Conservative leader David Cameron said today.
He told BBC News the case had damaged Britain's reputation in the world.
Mr Cameron said: "There are complexities in this and the way to deal with that is to have a brief inquiry led - I would argue - by a former permanent secretary, to look at all of the paperwork, all of the meetings, all the things that were said and to produce a short report so we can see what the British government has been doing in our name.
"That needs to be done. This has now been dragging on for week after week. I think the government has been incompetent in dealing with it."
He added that doubts over the original conviction did not alter the fact Megrahi should not have been released on compassionate grounds.
He said: "All we know is there was a properly held court case, very exhaustively carried out and he was convicted on that basis and sentenced on that basis.
"As I said at the time, if people feel the conviction is in someway unsafe, the right route then is produce fresh evidence and have a fresh appeal.
"I think the release on compassionate grounds was completely wrong."
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