Gordon Brown’s Government faces widespread public suspicion that the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, had more to do with oil than his terminal cancer.

A special Populus poll for The Times, conducted on Wednesday, reveals widespread public criticism of the release and scepticism about the reasons, with much of the blame falling on the Prime Minister.

The poll followed the public defence of the release by Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Minister, on Monday and Mr Brown’s comments the following day.

Questions were solely about this issue and did not include voting intentions.

Three fifths of those questioned (61 per cent) disagreed with the decision to return al-Megrahi to Libya on the ground of compassion, with 27 per cent agreeing.

The continuing controversy over the background to the decision, with reports of meetings between British ministers and members of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s family and the Libyan Government, have made people suspicious. Nearly half (45 per cent) thought it had more to do with oil than al-Megrahi’s terminal illness — 24 per cent disagreed.

Mr Brown’s attempt to distance himself from the move, saying that it was a decision for the Scottish government, has not gone down well, with 56 per cent saying that has handled the matter badly, and 23 per cent thinking that he had done well.

In the ranking of disapproval, Mr Brown was second only to Colonel Gaddafi. Some 63 per cent thought that the Libyans had handled the affair badly, while 15 per cent approved of their actions.

Everyone is tarnished to some extent though David Cameron and the American Government have suffered least. After the strong attacks from Washington on the release, a third said that the Americans had handled the issue well, although 45 per cent disagreed.

Respondents in Britain as a whole thought that both Mr MacAskill and the SNP Administration had handled the affair badly rather than well, by roughly two to one. But people in Scotland took a sharply different attitude on some of the questions.

The number of respondents from Scotland was far too small (at 45 out of a total sample of 515) to place great weight on the exact numbers. But there are indications that Scots disagreed with al-Megrahi’s release more narrowly than elsewhere in Britain.

Moreover, they appeared to be more personally sympathetic with Mr MacAskill’s predicament, more thinking he had handled the issue well rather than badly, the reverse of the view throughout Britain.

The Scottish public appeared annoyed with the strong criticisms of the decision by President Obama and other American leaders. Respondents from north of the Border thought that the US had handled the issue about as badly as Colonel Gaddafi and the Libyan Government.

In Britain as a whole, women were more opposed to al-Megrahi’s release than men (66 per cent against 56 per cent) and more likely to be opposed to early release in principle (72 per cent against 65 per cent). Women were also less critical of the handling of the issue by Mr Brown and the White House.

Only 22 per cent of all those questioned thought that al-Megrahi had been wrongly convicted in the first place, with 41 per cent disagreeing.

— Populus interviewed a random sample of 515 adults aged over 18 by telephone on August 26. Interviews were conducted across the countrsy and the results have been weighted to be representative of all adults.