Sunday, January 10, 2010

Is the Herald Group starting their anti SNP stories for the Labour Party to boost Labour's General Election Campaign chances?


















Dear All

The Herald Group, the unofficial newspaper of the Labour Party for promoting anti SNP stories against the SNP has produced a scoop, problem is, its crap and more to the point, completely pointless.

First Minister Alex Salmond is under attack for using an “unofficial bodyguard”, they cry out loud.

Alex Salmond doesn’t employ an “unofficial bodyguard”.

He employs Roger Cherry as his personal chauffeur.

Prior to that appointment Cherry was one of his regular drivers through the Scottish Government car service (SGCS).

What I find overegging the pudding by the Herald Group is the statement that Mr. Cherry is carrying out “risk assessment” duties on official visits.

Don’t they mean sitting on his arse reading the Daily record in the First Minister’s car?

If Cherry was fronting a security detail, then he would have informed Alex Salmond that he is two persons short and these people including himself should be armed.

The sudden flair up centres on Mr. Cherry because the PCS, the largest civil service union has repeatedly queried the First Minister’s transport arrangements and how Mr. Cherry got the job when others were unable to apply for it.

As a bone, the PCS has centred on Mr Cherry’s relocation package and the business case that supported it. They also want to know the scope of the extra duties that Mr. Cherry performs.

The Herald in true Labouresque style has embellished the story with the famous, “a senior government source confirmed that one of Mr Cherry’s “additional responsibilities” was undertaking risk assessment at events for Mr Salmond”.

That doesn’t make him the First Minister’s unofficial bodyguard as stated by the Herald Group.

So, the story appears to be that someone who knows shit all about security has made an uneducated opinion which the Herald Group have added to and present as a story.

Roger Cherry is a driver for Alex Salmond but both he and Alex Salmond knew that anyway!

It is stated that “Mr Cherry routinely leaves his car to accompany the First Minister at official events, using his police training to watch for potential trouble”.

Speculation on the part of Tom Gordon and Paul Hutcheon, equally he could be going for a coffee or off for a piss.

In their attempt to flog a dead horse, the Herald reporters bring up the fact that the SNP increased spending on security at conferences from £2,554 in 2007 to £13,934.

Hardly relevant to the story but when the Herald is scrapping the bottom of the barrel to produce an anti SNP story; you have to chuck in the kitchen sink.

The Labour Party in the shape of their Labour election and campaign manager, John Park MSP has joined the Herald Group bandwagon.

Park bleets;

“This is typical of Alex Salmond’s delusions of grandeur. That he is riding roughshod over proper procedures with a special driver and bodyguard for himself is no surprise. Maybe because of all his broken promises he is a bit paranoid and feels he needs a bodyguard, but this all a bit ridiculous.”

Special driver and bodyguard, Parks is obviously a crank, since when holding an ordinary driving licence make you “special”? Another point is that Cherry is not a bodyguard but then when does facts matter to the Labour Party.

As the Head of the Scottish Government Alex Salmond is entitled to security protection just like Gordon Brown and before him Tony Blair had as PM in London.

Having read the story in the Sunday Herald, Gordon and Hutcheon should remember how Douglas Fraser killed his career.

He did it acting like a complete arsehole in print.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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