Salmond claimed Bush was 'calm in a crisis'

Published on Saturday 14 March 2009 18:58

HE LEFT office as one of the most unpopular presidents in US history, but George Bush has received a vote of support from an unusual source: First Minister Alex Salmond.

Salmond was heard talking of how he was "impressed" by Bush, praising him for being "calm in a crisis" and "humorous". "We've all been misled about Bush," the future First Minister declared.

The backing is quoted in the newly published diaries of Labour MP Chris Mullin, who was relating a 2003 conversation with the SNP leader.

Mullin also records how Salmond added "hastily": "Of course that doesn't make him right about Iraq."

Mullin also recounts how Salmond told him he met Bush for a private meeting in the White House in 2001, alongside Sir Sean Connery. Bush is recorded as telling Salmond how, on his last visit to Scotland, he had only remembered 10% of the trip "because had been on the booze".

The SNP leader's generous private comments about Bush – given as the US president was leading the invasion of Iraq – were seized on by political opponents last night who pointed out how Salmond had, in public, denigrated Bush's "disastrous" period in office.

Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell declared: "Alex Salmond's problem is that he is blinded by celebrity. His description of Bush hardly matches the scabrous language that he used to describe him in public."

A spokesman for Salmond declined to comment further, saying the First Minister would set the record straight in his memoirs.

Mullin's book A View From The Foothills was released last week and is being scoured by political insiders for its many indiscreet revelations about Westminster life over the past few years. Anecdotes include one about Gordon Brown's aides demanding that Tony Blair's photograph be removed from a Labour party pamphlet promoting its work in alleviating Third World poverty.

Labour party insiders were quick to compare Salmond's comments on Bush to those he gave last year on Margaret Thatcher.

A Labour source commented last night: "Alex Salmond two-faced? Never. He does seem to be a bit of groupie, enthralled by anyone famous. But it really is no surprise as he let slip last summer he is also a fan of Margaret Thatcher."

Salmond regularly criticised Bush in public during the former President's spell in office. In 2003, the same year he spoke to Mullin, Salmond railed against the "disastrous" direction of the United States administration.