Glasgow East: Labour gift SNP a propaganda advantage

Published on Wednesday 23 July 2008 21:54

CAMPAIGNERS have pounced on revelations that Gordon Brown gave Baroness Thatcher a costly gift of silverware when the pair met last year.

The news, which was slipped out in a government written statement on the day that Parliament went into recess, reveals that the Prime Minister gifted the item to Lady Thatcher during the controversial photo opportunity in Downing Street in September 2007.

SNP activists, who have drawn parallels between Mr Brown and Lady Thatcher's regimes, yesterday tried to capitalise on the disclosure.

Angus Robertson, the party's Westminster leader, said: "Folk in Glasgow East would dearly love the chance to give Margaret Thatcher a piece of their mind – yet Gordon Brown gives her a piece of expensive silverware."

He added: "Labour pretend they are an anti-Tory party, when in reality they agree on so much – the illegal Iraq war, Trident nuclear weapons, the hated council tax – but the facts speak for themselves."

Meanwhile, Labour has also tried to imply that the SNP is close to the Tory party, suggesting that its candidate, John Mason, may vote with the Conservatives if he is elected to Westminster.