Gaddafi's brutal regime forced the Government to pay £60,000 in 'bribes' to fly in and rescue stranded Britons caught up in the Libyan civil war.

It also emerged that Gaddafi's brutal regime forced the Government to pay £60,000 in 'bribes' to fly in and rescue stranded Britons caught up in the Libyan civil war.

Officials handed over about £12,000 for each of the five planes that landed at Tripoli airport to save hundreds of Britons left for days without help.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'The charges have increased in the current situation. We have had to pay them, the alternative being to leave hundreds of British nationals stranded in Tripoli.'

However, he insisted that paying charges levied by authorities at a foreign airport 'is not bribery'. A senior Foreign Office source said the payments of £12,000 a plane were 'four or five times higher than usual'.

The admission is likely to be damaging because government policy is not to pay bribes, and Britain is exploring the possibility of sanctions and asset freezing against Libya.

Former Labour foreign minister Denis MacShane"