Dear All
When David Cameron set up the Leveson inquiry he set in motion a chain of events that has come back to haunt him and his government!
Rupert Murdoch wants revenge on the Tory Government and he sees Leveson as a vehicle.
As an offshoot from the ‘main event’ SNP Leader Alex Salmond has been dragged into the mire by dear old Rupert.
I suspect that Rupert might not find Alex Salmond as amusing, with ‘friends’ like Murdoch who needs enemies!
The First Minister last night took to the television screen to protest his innocence on Scotland Tonight regarding the notion that he had 'been bought and sold by Aussie gold'.
Given the proximity of the Scottish Council elections, he must have thought that a rapid rebuttal was the way to go.
However he certainly didn’t look at all comfortable and should have left any interviews or statements until Holyrood had the chance to grill him.
At FMQ’s, the Labour leader Johann Lamont torn into him.
Lamont said:
“When did he first talk about this publicly and how many jobs would be coming to Scotland?”
First Minister Alex Salmond says correspondence related to the significance of BSkyB as an employer in Scotland, which he says provides more than 6,000 jobs
Lamont on the attack says she always welcomes jobs coming to "my own city". She would also welcome if the FM answered the question he was asked. She goes on to say that:
“one of Mr Salmond's MSPs, Angela Constance, was against the call centre changes by News International and all six of Alex Salmon's MPs supported a withdrawal of the bid for BSkyB. Why did the FM support his own MPs in opposing the takeover deal?”
Alex Salmond responded that says there was a huge risk last year of thousands of BSkyB jobs being lost in Scotland last year due to changes at the company and he was doing his job as first minister by getting involved.
Lamont storms on says that even after the Milly Dowler revelations, Mr Salmond was the only politician in "this country, perhaps the world" to invite Rupert Murdoch "round for tea". He is still welcome in "wee Eck's house", she adds.
Alex Salmond refers to the days of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown "courting" the Murdoch press. He says Labour has spent 15 years worshiping at the feet of Rupert Murdoch.
Own goal Alex, clearly rattled.
Lamont stepped up a gear and said Ed Miliband put down a motion opposing the BSkyb deal. "This is not about the FM's cynicism, this is about his infatuation about very rich men."
She goes on to list his contacts with:
Fred Goodwin
Donald Trump
Rupert Murdoch
Ms Lamont says:
"Each case was in secret, each case was a disaster and the detail had to be dragged out of the FM." She calls Mr Salmond a "sucker".
Openly mocking the First Minister in public, Lamont is on a roll, this is turning out to be Annus horribilis for Alex Salmond.
Job done, the Labour leader sat down.
Next up Ruth Davidson, second in command to put the boot to the First Minister‘s head.
She goes on the ‘Trump card’.
Davidson says that when Mr Salmond was asked by parliament about his contact with the Trump organisation, he did not mention his contacts with "The Donald". Did the FM mislead Holyrood? [Mr Trump's appearance before MSPs yesterday revealed details of meetings with Mr Salmond].
Alex Salmond says the night in New York in 2007 was less a candlelit dinner with Donald Trump and more an international Scots business event. Also the First Minister repeats that he never gave assurances to the US tycoon over the fate of the wind farm.
Andy Wightman tweets: Ruth Davidson has done her homework #trump #fmq.
Davidson sensing blood says that if Mr Salmond has nothing to hide from a 12-man dinner, why didn't he talk about it to a parliamentary committee?
She says:
"Something here stinks, will the first minister set the record straight and say that nothing was discussed on planning and the Menie estate scheme?"
FM says Mr Trump hadn't been threatening to pull out of his Menie development until the last few months. Mr Salmond also quotes Mr Trump's line from the committee where he said "I am the evidence". Mr Salmond calls it the Judge Dredd response (named after the ruthless comic book law enforcer, whose catchphrase was "I am the law!"
If Trump is Judge Dredd then that by default makes Salmond ‘the prep’, patently this is a man not a Judge Dredd fan.
I bet he wishes he had a lawgiver or some stumm gas for the chamber.
Mark Baillie tweets:
“No contrition from the FM over his article... Is he the last political leader defending newscorp over phone hacking? #fmq”.
So, a rough ride for the beleaguered First Minister Alex Salmond, from ‘tripping the light fantastic’, he is now just tripping.
I don’t think his ‘crew’ of spin doctors and gofers will be telling him that he handled that bunny well, it was a disaster, last night was a disaster with a distinctly uncomfortable First Minster being semi grilled.
Time to go up the park and feed the ducks!
And hope no one else in the SNP f*cks up between now and polling day.
The SNP is starting to look like a party experiencing the last days of Blair!
And we know how that turned out, don’t we.
Good FMQ for Lamont and Davidson, not so good for Alex Salmond.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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