David Miliband has revealed his family’s ‘horror’ at the London School of Economics staging a lecture in his father’s name by the son of Colonel Gaddafi.

He spoke after the resignation of LSE director Sir Howard Davies over the university’s embarrassing links with the Libyan dictatorship.

A prominent feature of those links, which involved accepting a £1.5million donation from the Gaddafis, had been inviting the despot’s son Saif to deliver the Ralph Miliband memorial lecture last May, in honour of the late Marxist academic who taught at the LSE.

Fury: David Milliband told Andrew Marr of his horror at learning that Saif Gaddafi, right, had given a lecture in his late father Ralph’s name at LSE

Astonishingly Saif spared time yesterday from fighting the revolt against his father’s regime to attack former LSE friends as ‘cowards turning on us’. Saif faces being stripped of his LSE PhD over claims it was plagiarised and written by paid consultants.

Former Foreign Secretary Mr Miliband’s intervention came as he was interviewed on Andrew Marr’s BBC1 show yesterday.

The MP, who lost last year’s Labour leadership battle to his younger brother Ed and has since retreated from frontline politics, was asked about the speech given by Saif as part of the LSE’s Ralph Miliband lecture series.

Mr Miliband said: ‘It’s horrific. The Ralph Miliband Programme at the LSE was founded by a former student of my dad’s in the 1950s who said he’d learnt more about the Right in the seminars of my dad – who was obviously on the Left – because my dad believed in showing all sides of opinion.

‘The idea of Saif Gaddafi giving a lecture under his name is just horrific to him and horrific to the whole family obviously.’

However, Mr Miliband’s distaste at British links with Libya was not so obvious when Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was controversially released from a Scottish prison on ‘compassionate’ grounds two years ago.

Al Megrahi was said to be on the brink of death from cancer, but is today living in Tripoli.

There were calls for Mr Miliband, who was then Foreign Secretary, to stop the release.

But it soon emerged that he apparently wanted Al Megrahi to be freed at some stage.

Scottish government papers revealed that his junior Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell had gone to Tripoli before the bomber’s release and assured the Libyan government that neither Prime Minister Gordon Brown nor David Miliband wanted Al Megrahi to ‘pass away in prison’.

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It also emerged that Mr Miliband’s fellow Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson had enjoyed private talks with Saif Gaddafi in Corfu shortly before the release, and there were claims it was linked to lucrative oil deals.

Yesterday Saif spoke out in Libya about the growing furore over the LSE donation and his PhD thesis, which included research conducted by the Monitor Group. Saif said: ‘I am proud of my work at the LSE, and of being an alumni.

Brink of civil war: Pro-Gadhafi soldiers and supporters poured onto the streets of Tripoli today, waving flags and firing their guns in the air in the Libyan leader’s main stronghold, claiming overnight military successes

‘This is the reason I became a benefactor. The way these people are now disowning me is disgusting.’

Saif became particularly close to Professor David Held and Dr Alia Brahimi, a research fellow who frequently visited him and his father in Libya.

Both academics have, over the past week, denounced Saif who said: ‘Just a few months ago we were being treated as honoured friends.

‘Now that rebels are threatening our country, these cowards are turning on us.

‘The way my former friends at the LSE have turned against me and my father is particularly upsetting.’

Col Gaddafi is also furious that people including former premier Tony Blair, who helped rehabilitate him to the world community, were now calling for him to go.

The dictator told a source: ‘These people saw Libya as a huge money-making opportunity but have all but abandoned us after taking our money for years.’

Failed Mission For SAS In Libya

The SAS and British intelligence agents have now left Benghazi, where children spent part of Sunday playing on an armoured vehicle outside the offices of the rebel forces in the port city.

A British diplomatic effort to reach out to Libyan rebels has ended in humiliation as a team of British special forces and intelligence agents left Benghazi after being briefly detained.

The six SAS troops and two MI6 officers were seized by Libyan rebels in the eastern part of the country after arriving by helicopter four days ago. They left on HMS Cumberland, the frigate that had docked in Benghazi to evacuate British and other EU nationals as Libya lurched deeper into conflict. The diplomatic team's departure marked a perfunctory end to a bizarre and botched venture.

"I can confirm that a small British diplomatic team has been in Benghazi," said William Hague, the foreign secretary. "The team went to Libya to initiate contacts with the opposition. They experienced difficulties, which have now been satisfactorily resolved. They have now left Libya."

Audio of a telephone conversation between the UK's ambassador to Libya, Richard Northern, and a senior rebel leader was later leaked.

Northern suggested in the call that the SAS team had been detained due to a misunderstanding.

The rebel leader responded: "They made a big mistake, coming with a helicopter in an open area."

Northern said: "I didn't know how they were coming."

Despite the failure of the mission, Hague indicated that Britain would continue to try to make contact with the opposition.

"We intend, in consultation with the opposition, to send a further team to strengthen our dialogue in due course," he said. "This diplomatic effort is part of the UK's wider work on Libya, including our ongoing humanitarian support. We continue to press for Gaddafi to step down and we will work with the international community to support the legitimate ambitions of the Libyan people."

According to Guardian sources, the British intelligence and special forces unit were caught near the al-Khadra Farm Company, 18 miles (30km) south-west of Benghazi. A senior member of Benghazi's revolutionary council said: "They were carrying espionage equipment, reconnaissance equipment, multiple passports and weapons. This is no way to conduct yourself during an uprising.

"Gaddafi is bringing in thousands of mercenaries to kill us, most are using foreign passports and how do we know who these people are?

"They say they're British nationals and some of the passports they have are British. But the Israelis used British passports to kill that man in Dubai last year."

Rebel leaders said claimed the captives had been treated well and would be released as soon as the British government vouched for their identity with the rebel command.

The news follows Sunday Times claims that an SAS unit was being held by rebel forces it had approached in an attempt to open up diplomatic channels to opponents of Muammar Gaddafi.

Whitehall sources said on Friday it needed to learn more about the leadership of the anti-Gaddafi forces and find out what logistical support they needed, but would not give arms to the rebels, as an international arms embargo was in place.

British officials during the day declined to comment on reports that special forces were being held but defended the objective of the mission.

The defence secretary, Liam Fox said: "It is a very difficult situation to be able to understand in detail. There are a number of different opposition groups to Colonel Gaddafi in Libya who do seem relatively disparate. We want to clearly understand what the dynamic is here because we want to be able to work with them to ensure the demise of the Gaddafi regime, to see a transition to greater stability in Libya and ultimately to more representative government.

"So getting a picture of that is relatively difficult, as is widely reported. Communications are being interrupted, there are difficulties with mobile phones, with the internet potentially being interfered with.

"So we are trying to build a picture – it's essential that the government does that and it's essential that all western governments do that so we are able to get a clearer idea of what we are able to do in terms of helping the people of Libya."

David Cameron, speaking at the Tory party spring conference in Cardiff, repeated his call for "Gaddafi to go". "On Libya, our strategy is clear," he said. "We will continue to intensify pressure on the regime. We will continue to state clearly that international justice has a long reach and a long memory, and that those who commit crimes against humanity will not go unpunished. We will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to those affected by this crisis, and continue to demand access for aid agencies to reach those in need.

And we will continue to plan, with our allies, for every eventuality. "

The Sunday Times reported Libyan and British sources confirming the SAS unit had been detained by rebel forces it had approached to secure a meeting with a junior diplomat to offer help in their fight against Gaddafi. The mission backfired when rebel leaders in Benghazi objected to foreign interference from governments which had not yet formally recognised them as Libya's legitimate rulers, it said.