Candidate defends 'cash for access' fundraising lunches

Published on Wednesday 10 February 2010 00:28

THE SNP candidate who stood to benefit from auctioned lunches with Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon has defended the fund-raising scheme.

Osama Saeed, the SNP candidate for Glasgow Central, criticised complaints about the "cash for access" controversy which, he claimed, were characterised by "absurdity and hypocrisy".

The First Minister and his deputy were reported to the Standards Commissioner after it was revealed that the SNP had offered to host six auctioned lunches at the Scottish Parliament restaurant for the highest bidders.

The lunches have been postponed pending a parliamentary inquiry.

On his blog, Mr Saeed claimed that only a few people had "tentatively" subscribed to the "cash for access" theory "because of the absurdity and hypocrisy of it".

He said: "The donors/auction winners didn't need to win the auction to make whatever points they may or may not have. They were sitting a few yards away from Alex Salmond all evening. We're also talking about the most accessible First Minister we've had. I know all sorts of people, often of no real substance, who have successfully held meetings with him and Nicola Sturgeon just because they requested it."

Mr Saeed added: "This takes us back to two points here – the first is that the opposition don't like the SNP raising money. And those donating to the campaign were an indication of the desire for change in Glasgow Central, and no amount of shenanigans of the type we've seen over the last few days from Labour is going to change that – in fact it's likely to harden it."

A Labour spokesman said that Mr Saeed's comments demonstrated that donors were hoping to lobby the First Minister and Ms Sturgeon.

"It is extraordinary that the candidate for whom these dodgy donations were being raised is trying to defend his position on his blog. It is simply wrong to try and claim what has happened is normal," the spokesman said.

"Those involved in this scandal should be apologising for it, not defending it."

House of Lords standards watchdog is to look into a complaint over the expenses of former Labour chairman Lord Clarke of Hampstead.

Yesterday's announcement raises the possibility that the Labour peer may face parliamentary discipline if allegations that he claimed expenses to stay in London while returning to his home in St Albans are upheld.