UK's ex-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was 'never complicit' in torture of terror detainees

Jack Straw has insisted that he was "never complicit" in the illegal rendition or torture suspects during his time as Foreign Secretary.

The senior Labour MP also told the BBC he would be "delighted" to give evidence to an inquiry looking at the treatment of detainees by British intelligence agencies following the 9/11 attacks.

"Just so far as my position is concerned, I've made repeatedly clear – I applied myself assiduously to my legal obligations, which above all were to ensure people's human rights were observed," he said.

"And any action I took was strictly within law and I was never, ever complicit in people being rendered illegally, still less in their bad treatment or torture."

The comments come after the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) published a shocking report into CIA "enhanced interrogation techniques".

The investigation revealed that CIA detainees were tortured and subjected to a series of "techniques", which were far more brutal than previous feared.

The committee said that the CIA carried out torture techniques on terror suspects in the wake of 9/11 while misleading the nation with narratives of life-saving interrogations.

The UK government has denied that it attempted to redact "any allegations of UK involvement in activity that would be unlawful" from a Senate report into the CIA's treatment of detainees.

But The Guardian reported that references to Britain's intelligence agencies were deleted at their request.

Theresa May has resisted calls for a judge-led inquiry into issues arising from the CIA torture scandal.

The Home Secretary insisted the explosive US report contained no evidence that would embroil British agents in allegations of torture.

However, May admitted her view was based upon reading a summary of the Feinstein report – which is around 6,000 pages shorter than the full draft document.

"I'm not aware of any evidence," May told the Home Affairs Committee (HAC).

She said the UK intelligence services did "an excellent job day in, day out" and "would not want to be involved" in torture.

"It is important we don't throw away the values which make us different from the terrorists," said May.