The Foreign & Commonwealth Office have moved to refute any link between the dismissal of Baroness Kinnock from her European portfolio in the House of Lords on Monday, and her pledge the same day to investigate whether Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was pressured into dropping his ongoing appeal against conviction before being transferred to Libya.

The FCO told the Firm "the suggestion that Baroness Kinnock has been dismissed or demoted is patent nonsense."

“Ministerial portfolios in the Foreign Office have been reallocated, following Lord Malloch Brown's departure at the beginning of the summer.”

The Firm pressed the FCO to explain why in that case no announcement had been made at the beginning of the summer. An FCO press officer said that the announcement had only been made orally “at the Lobby” on Monday morning, and no written statement announcing Baroness Kinnock’s “reallocation” had been produced or distributed to the media.

They confirmed that Kinnock remains responsible for all FCO business in the Lords and will respond to Lord Lester's question “in the normal way“. Lord Lester had asked for an assurance that no pressure had been put upon Megrahi that he would be sent to die in Libya only if he dropped his appeal.

The Press Secretary to the Foreign Secretary Daid Milliband told The Firm that neither the timing nor the contents of the change in Kinnock’s role, described as ”internal housekeeping“ was “in any way related to anything Baroness Kinnock said in the Lords on Monday afternoon.”

“The change in Minister for Europe took place and was announced before the comments you report in the Lords. Any suggestion to the contrary is factually untrue," he added.

The Firm’s report can be read here.