Spat between Salmond and Sir Menzies forces parties further apart

Published on Friday 13 March 2009 20:52

THE prospect of a future SNP-Lib Dem coalition in the Scottish Parliament looked more distant than ever yesterday after a major spat between Sir Menzies Campbell and Alex Salmond, the First Minister.

Sir Menzies, the former UK party leader, launched an attack on Mr Salmond for posturing on the world stage, calling the First Minister "a novice". A spokesman for Mr Salmond hit back, describing Sir Menzies as a "pompous ass" and renaming him "Ming the Meaningless".

His offensive was privately seen by some delegates as a message to MSPs to avoid a coalition with Mr Salmond and the SNP. It followed reports that some leading Liberal Democrats were considering a coalition with the SNP after the 2011 Holyrood election to get the party back into a position where it was a player.

There has been an acknowledged history of bad blood between Sir Menzies and Mr Salmond over the years and it was revealed in the veteran Liberal Democrat's recent autobiography that he was approached by Liberal Democrat MSPs to join Labour in a coalition to stop the SNP taking office in 2007.

One party member said: "There's no love lost between the two."

In the session on international affairs during the party's conference in Perth, Sir Menzies lashed out at Mr Salmond for "rushing across the Atlantic at the first opportunity to see Hillary Clinton," the new US Secretary of State. Paraphrasing his old friend Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, he said "This is no time for a novice."

He then harked back to words used by Mr Salmond during one of the First Minister's biggest foreign policy gaffes, when he attacked Tony Blair for bombing Kosovan Serbs, saying that inexperienced people were "likely to be guilty of unpardonable folly".

The Kosovan comments had allowed opponents to cast Mr Salmond as a supporter of Serb nationalists, who were at the time guilty of ethnic cleansing.

Sir Menzies added: "I should have thought that Alex Salmond has quite enough on his plate in Scotland without looking for transatlantic photo opportunities." And he went on: "My advice to him is to stick to what he knows best, whatever that is."

The attack provoked a furious response from Mr Salmond's office. A spokesperson said: "Menzies Campbell sounds like a pompous ass. He has never been in office in his life, and was so bad as Liberal leader that he wasn't even allowed to fight a general election. For the few dozen Liberal delegates who were there to hear him, this was less Ming the Merciless, more Ming the Meaningless."

He said that the meeting with Mrs Clinton was to talk about shared interests in climate change and renewable energy.

Sir Menzies reportedly laughed at the riposte, but refused to comment.

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: "This is typical of Mr Salmond's response to legitimate criticism. His lack of sensitivity shows that the remarks struck a nerve."

Tree-mendous fundraising effort from Scott

TAVISH Scott, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, launched his party's conference in Perth by taking on the challenge of climbing the UK's tallest tree with the help of a team of Lib Dem MSPs and candidates.

The effort, at the Perthshire Outdoor Centre, was also in aid of raising money for this year's Comic Relief campaign, although the party was unable to say how much money he had raised.

A Lib Dem spokeswoman added that the tree was supposed to be symbolic of Mr Scott and the challenges the party face over the next two years.

The conference is likely to be dominated by discussions about the economy.

Hear no evil? No, it's a plug for the deaf

HOW to whip delegates into a frenzy before the conference has even begun? Easy, hand out ear plugs on the way in. The Lib Dems tried this yesterday, raising eyebrows amongst some. However, it turned out that it was a publicity stunt by the Deaf Society rather than a means of sparing delegates from the worst excesses of droning contributions.

Notes of desperation

CONFERENCES can take time to get going – even with big-name draws. So before the appearance on stage of Sir Menzies Campbell and Malcolm Bruce, officials left nothing to chance, rousing the audience of 72 in the 800-capacity lower section of the Perth Concert Hall with pumping disco music. Cue lots of odd looks from delegates.

A week is still a long time in politics

THE only lunch time fringe event on the first day was one entitled: "Why a recession needs increased investment in public services." Speaker Lib Dem MSP Jim Tolson carefully avoided the fact that until a few days ago the party wanted to cut income tax by 2p and public spending by 700 million.

Smoke signals fail to stay 'on message'

IT SEEMS that not all Lib Dems are "on message" at this year's conference.

During a debate on banning cigarette vending machines, which was supported, Lady Elspeth Campbell, the wife of former leader Sir Menzies, was seen standing outside the venue, puffing away.