Congratulations to the United States of America on their Independence Day, and we note that although their National Debt, thanks to the munificence of George W Bruce towards his well heeled friends, is now several trillion dollars, they have no intention of asking the United Kingdom to take them back into the fold.

 

Before the ink was dry…….

As some readers will be aware, I am also the Editor of the Scots Independent newspaper, which is published once a month. It is my rule that on the eve of going to the printer on Friday, I watch First Minister’s Questions, (this time at Holyrood, and then videoed by my wife), and the various political comment programmes, such as Newsnight Scotland and the Politics Show. I then write my Editorial in the wee sma hours before going to bed; this keeps me as up to date as possible before printing. This month it is doubly frustrating that Wendy Alexander resigned on Saturday morning and a by election in Glasgow East was announced at the same time!

 

The Wendy Plot

On Monday evening, one of my friends said to me "So, you got rid of Wendy then." As the result was not to the benefit of the SNP, I had to demur. This was only one of the popular misconceptions being bruited about by the Labour Party as a smokescreen, to hide the truth. What actually happened was spelt out by John Swinney on the Politics Show on Sunday; the whole donations affair was started by a leak to either the Herald or the Sunday Herald that Wendy had received an illegal donation.

No one in the SNP, or the Liberal Party, or even the Tory Party, and most of the Labour Party, was aware of this illegal donation; the knowledge was confined to Wendy’s inner circle. The fact that this explosive device landed up in the hands of the press was neither slipshod security nor an accident, but a deliberate attempt to bring down Wendy Alexander. She had become the leader of the Labour MSPs with the wholehearted backing of the Chancellor/Prime Minister in waiting, Gordon Brown, and any contest would have resulted in challengers feeling Mr Brown’s displeasure. Notwithstanding this backing, Ms Alexander set about seeking funding in case there was anyone foolhardy enough to try; she knew enough of the Electoral Commission rules to ask for donations of £995, £5 under the limit which had to be declared.

Now Ms Alexander is "famous" for her attention to detail, so it is rather surprising that she paid no attention to the rules introduced when she was a member of the Scottish Executive that donations of over £500 had to be declared within 30 days; 60 days after banking the cheques she asked the Clerks to the Standards Committee if she should have declared them. As she had set up some form of an Election Fund, she thought she had muddied the waters enough, and the Standards Clerks thought that this was alright. The shadowy Electoral Commission decided to take no action on the illegal donation, on the basis that she had eventually declared it – after the Herald published the information, and the Procurator Fiscal followed the Electoral Commission’s lead and decided not to prosecute, even although Ms Alexander had admitted breaking the law!

A complaint about the breach of Holyrood rules was made to the independent Standards Commissioner, Dr Jim Dyer, and after his investigation, he concluded that the rules had been broken and reported this to the Standards Committee; Labour have complained that the Standards Committee was partisan, and with this I agree. There are 7 members on the Committee, 3 SNP, 2 Labour, 1 Liberal and 1 Conservative; the vote on whether the rules had been broken was 5-2, the 2 concerned being the Labour members, acting in a partisan fashion.

Who instigated Wendy’s downfall may become known over time, but it is perfectly understandable; she was making a mess of opposition, and alienating all except apparently those in her inner circle. As she was backed by the Prime Minister she thought she was fire proof, so drastic action was required and instigated.

As the battle for her successor begins (or continues) we are not surprised that Charlie Gordon intends to throw his hat into the ring; it was his soliciting of an illegal donation which ultimately led to Wendy’s downfall. He is surely not that Machievellian, or is he?

One last point; we keep hearing ad nauseam about Wendy Alexander’s honesty and integrity. Her manipulation of the cash limits casts a bit of doubt on the first trait. As for the second, she was a management consultant, and from my working experience, integrity is not the first word that springs to mind in connection with that occupation.

 

Stone of Destiny

The recent publication of the book "Stone of Destiny" by Ian Hamilton, who with three other students, recovered the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey, and the subsequent celebrations about this and the new film, reminded of my own brief experience.

In 1977, I was Chairman of the Edinburgh District Association of the SNP, and we were mounting an exhibition in the SNP Club in North St Andrew Street during the Edinburgh Festival. We knew that a replica of the Stone of Destiny was in Dundee, and I, a native of Dundee, was charged to go and see if we could borrow it.

So on one of our normal weekend visits to Dundee, I went to see the custodian of the replica. It was a Saturday evening, and the custodian, Rev John Mackay Nimmo, was settling down to write his Sunday sermon, I think, when this brash young man (well this was over 30 years ago!) appeared on his doorstep. I do not know what he thought, but when I mentioned that he had a copy of the Stone, he bridled. According to him, the Stone had been given to him by Bertie Gray, who told him that this was the real Stone, and that he was to keep it and hand it over when Scotland became independent. In no way would he countenance handing it over to a stranger; that put my gas at a wee peep.

There was a further point to the story; around the same time, I saw Bertie Gray being interviewed on television; Bertie Gray was a Glasgow stonemason and a Progressive Councillor, and he had the Stone in his possession after it was recovered. He had also repaired it; the interviewer asked him if the real Stone had been returned to Westminster, and his eyes twinkled. "Do I look like the kind of lad that would gie them back the richt Stane?"

Subsequently, I went to see this Stone; it was in St Columba’s Church of Scotland in the Lochee Road, at the corner of Cobden Street. My youngest son, Peter, was with me. We also arranged for the church to be opened during the SNP Annual Conference, 1979, I think. Where that Stone is now is not known, as I think the church has been demolished.

I know there are queries as to whether the Stone which was stolen by Edward I of England was in fact the Lia Fail, Jacob’s Pillow, or whether it was one palmed off by the Abbot of Scone, but in fact it is the symbolism of the Stone, the idea, rather than the hard historical facts that counts. One further thought; legend says that wherever the Stone is, there the seat of Scottish power will lie. The Stone in Edinburgh Castle was returned in 1996, and in 1997 after the General Election which returned Labour to power, there was a Referendum and the people of Scotland voted overwhelmingly for a Scottish Parliament. This fledging Parliament, after 8 years under the control of the English political parties, is now a Scottish National Party one – not yet Independence- but coming sooner than later.

 

Glasgow East by election

Simultaneous with the resignation of the Labour leaderene, we have a by election in Glasgow East. This has been caused by the resignation due to ill health of Labour MP David Marshall; however, his replacement is being sought with unseemly haste, which makes one wonder. The by election will be held on 24^th July, just making it in the three weeks required; it will also be held in the second week of the Glasgow Fair fortnight.

There have already been reports in the newspapers about an inquiry into Mr Marshall’s expenses, leaked by "Senior Labour sources"; not quite what one would expect from a party facing an extremely difficult by election, and indicating that Labour is imploding.

I cannot profess to have heard anything about David Marshall, but I do recall very clearly, his daughter, Christina, appearing before the Holyrood Standards Committee in 1999, over allegations against the then Finance Minister, Jack MacConnell; this arose after a "sting" operation conducted by the Observer newspaper concerning Beattie Media’s claim that they could arrange access to the Cabinet Minister. Not only do I recall it, but I printed out the whole of the proceedings, which I look at from time to time to while away a weary hour. It seems that the current expenses inquiry refers to a Christina Marshall, but no indication if this is Mr Marshall’s daughter, or his wife, apparently known as Tina.

From the Standards Committee Inquiry, I noted that Christina Marshall was Mr MacConnell’s Constituency Secretary, and that she applied for the job as advertised in the local press, was interviewed, and was given the job on merit. The fact that she had worked for her father in Westminster and in Beattie Media at the same time as Mr MacConnell had no relevance. The other gem which I liked was that when she received a telephone call from a former colleague in Beattie Media she said: "He telephoned me one Thursday afternoon in August while I was driving. I stopped my car to speak to Mr Barr…." The point here was that she said she was not in the office when she took the call or there would have been a note. Even in August 1999, the hard shoulders of motorways were liberally festooned with young ladies stopping to answer telephones!

However, I have no doubt that in Labour’s self destruct mode a lot more things will be leaked to the press, but while one does not like to intrude on their private grief, it would seem that they are happy to put things in the public domain, but anonymously, of course.

I am glad I printed out the reports, as when I try to access them on the Scottish Parliament’s website – I get "Page not found". Hmm.

 

Pringle – of Scotland?

Extremely disappointed to hear that the above company, now owned from outwith Scotland, is to transfer all its manufacturing to Italy; apparently they intend to retain the "Pringle of Scotland" label, reminiscent of the BBC programmes made in Manchester but with a Scottish person on the team to justify them being allocated to Scotland.

It could be that Italian manufacturers are better and cheaper than we are, but I had an experience in Italy which gives me cause for doubt. I went into a Post Office, not a sub post office, but an official one run by the postal authority; I wanted 7 second class stamps to put on postcards I was sending. I told the woman I was sending the cards to Scotland, and she went back into the office, returning a few minutes later to tell me they had no stamps. To the complete astonishment of myself and my wife, she then weighed the first postcard, entered the weight into her computer, and printed off a stamp, which she then had to trim with scissors, and then stuck it on the postcard. And then she did exactly the same process with the other 6 postcards, one by one!

I would doubt if an Italian went into a post office in Hawick to send postcards to Italy they would be subjected to that rigmarole.