Following on from the previous story on this blog about the SAS training Libyans we now have this story from the Daily Express:
PLANS for the NHS to train Libyan doctors after an agreement signed by a Cabinet minister last year provoked anger last night.
The deal is the latest in a series of moves to improve relations between Britain and the north African state.
But it comes amid growing concern over Britain’s co-operation with Libya which was an international pariah for years following the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, which killed 270 people.
Last night the Department of Health dismissed as “nonsense” suggestions the agreement had any link with the recent controversial release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi or trade deals with the oil-rich regime of Colonel Gaddafi.
Critics, however, said the move was a clear continuation of a “strategy of appeasement” to Libya.
The row over Britain’s relations with Libya intensified after police leaders accused the Government of being willing “to sell its soul for trade deals” following the disclosure that Jack Straw agreed the killer of Pc Yvonne Fletcher would not be brought to justice in Britain.
Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation, said he was “appalled”.
Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats said: “This appears to be part of a concerted strategy of appeasement which has seen the Lockerbie bomber go free while denying justice to the family of Yvonne Fletcher.”
Under a memorandum of understanding, signed by former Health Secretary Alan Johnson in spring 2008, Libyan medical staff will get a year’s instruction in Britain in areas such as intensive care, anaesthetics and endoscopy, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology.
Links have also been formed between London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital and the main eye hospital in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
But opposition MPs said it appeared to fit a pattern of measures to appease Col Gaddafi, including the release of Megrahi.
Tory Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “The suspicion and confusion surrounding ministers’ dealings with Libya will only be sorted out by the independent inquiry we continue to call for.”
PLANS for the NHS to train Libyan doctors after an agreement signed by a Cabinet minister last year provoked anger last night.
The deal is the latest in a series of moves to improve relations between Britain and the north African state.
But it comes amid growing concern over Britain’s co-operation with Libya which was an international pariah for years following the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, which killed 270 people.
Last night the Department of Health dismissed as “nonsense” suggestions the agreement had any link with the recent controversial release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi or trade deals with the oil-rich regime of Colonel Gaddafi.
Critics, however, said the move was a clear continuation of a “strategy of appeasement” to Libya.
The row over Britain’s relations with Libya intensified after police leaders accused the Government of being willing “to sell its soul for trade deals” following the disclosure that Jack Straw agreed the killer of Pc Yvonne Fletcher would not be brought to justice in Britain.
Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation, said he was “appalled”.
Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats said: “This appears to be part of a concerted strategy of appeasement which has seen the Lockerbie bomber go free while denying justice to the family of Yvonne Fletcher.”
Under a memorandum of understanding, signed by former Health Secretary Alan Johnson in spring 2008, Libyan medical staff will get a year’s instruction in Britain in areas such as intensive care, anaesthetics and endoscopy, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology.
Links have also been formed between London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital and the main eye hospital in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
But opposition MPs said it appeared to fit a pattern of measures to appease Col Gaddafi, including the release of Megrahi.
Tory Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “The suspicion and confusion surrounding ministers’ dealings with Libya will only be sorted out by the independent inquiry we continue to call for.”
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