Brown finally makes the congratulations call

Published on Friday 1 June 2007 14:20

ALEX SALMOND today finally received a call from Gordon Brown to congratulate him on becoming Scotland's First Minister - four weeks after he won the election.

The Chancellor, who will take over as Prime Minister from Tony Blair on June 27, phoned Mr Salmond at around 9am today.

The two men spoke for about ten minutes. They agreed they should work together in the interests of Scotland and discussed the withdrawal of UK government support for a pioneering carbon capture project in Peterhead - but also found time to talk about football.

Mr Brown had been criticised for his apparent reluctance to contact the new First Minister to offer congratulations on his appointment following the May 3 election.

But today the Chancellor said: "I spoke to him this morning and said 'well done for becoming First Minister', but of course our conversation is about what we can do for jobs."

Mr Salmond said: "I had a constructive and friendly call from Gordon Brown this morning. We discussed the carbon capture and storage project in Peterhead and other matters relating to the potential of carbon capture. We will have more detailed contact on other matters when Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister.

"We both agreed the interests of Scotland were more important than any political differences, and will work towards those ends.

"We also spoke about the Junior Cup Final on Sunday involving Kelty Hearts from Gordon's constituency and Linlithgow Rose from my birthplace. I am presenting the cup to the winning team. Unfortunately, Gordon can't be there as he will be attending a leadership hustings meeting that day."