Alex Salmond under fire for Nazi jibe at BBC adviser
Alex Salmond
ALEX Salmond is under pressure to withdraw controversial remarks he made about a senior BBC adviser who he compared to a high-ranking Nazi Party official following a row over the exclusion of the First Minister from a rugby broadcast.
Mr Salmond used the term “Gauleiter” – the name for a regional Nazi party leader – to describe BBC political adviser Ric Bailey after the SNP leader was blocked from appearing on a sports show ahead of the Six Nations clash between Scotland and England at the weekend.
However, Mr Salmond was accused of making an “ugly smear” and of “bully-boy tactics” by opponents for using the term, after his invitation to appear on the show was withdrawn at the eleventh hour on the advice of Mr Bailey because of “heightened tensions” over the independence referendum.
The SNP leader’s Nazi jibe against the BBC official comes just weeks after Scottish Labour MP Tom Harris was forced to resign from a senior party position after posting a satirical video on the internet splicing an imagined conversation between the First Minister and his cabinet members onto footage from the film Downfall charting the last days of Adolf Hitler.
Mr Salmond said he now intended to raise the “very serious issues” arising from the decision to exclude him from the show with the chair of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, when he visits Edinburgh on Thursday.
The First Minister’s office insisted that he was “not looking in the slightest to make any kind of political or constitutional points” after he was booked by Carl Hicks, editor of BBC TV Sport, to appear with former Scotland player Andy Nicol and England’s Jeremy Guscott for a live show outside Murrayfield, ahead of the Calcutta Cup tie.
Mr Salmond said: “That was all settled fine, but then Ric Bailey, the political Gauleiter we should call him now, intervened to say this shouldn’t happen and, really, he’s lost the plot. The guy has just totally, utterly lost the plot.”
He dismissed the ban as being “what you get in tin-pot dictatorships. I’m afraid it looks like the BBC are on the run from Downing Street at the present moment or being run from Downing Street.”
But the First Minister was accused of using “dangerous language” by Scottish Labour’s external affairs spokeswoman Patricia Ferguson.
She called on Mr Salmond to apologise for the use of the “Gauleiter” term.
Ms Ferguson said: “Alex Salmond’s hysteria over not appearing on a rugby show is embarrassing to most Scots. People want the First Minister to get behind the team, not get on television.
“What is totally unacceptable, however, is for the First Minister to accuse journalists of occupying the post of a Nazi district leader. That is an ugly smear.
“Maybe he doesn’t understand quite how offensive that term is, in which case he should withdraw it today.”
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said that Mr Salmond’s remarks revealed a “disturbing pattern” in the use of language by SNP ministers, after education secretary Michael Russell attacked opponents at Holyrood as “anti-Scottish” for opposing government policy.
Ms Davidson said: “This is just more bully-boy tactics from Alex Salmond and an embarrassing way for Scotland’s First Minister to behave.
“There is now a disturbing pattern of behaviour emerging from the SNP against anyone who dares to stand up to them.
“It is a completely inappropriate outburst from a man supposed to be running Scotland, and symptomatic of the SNP’s ‘attack mode’ where they try to destroy anyone with whom they disagree.”
Mr Salmond last night rejected the calls to apologise for his remarks, as he attacked the ban on his appearance on the rugby show as “unacceptable”.
A spokesman for Mr Salmond said: “The First Minister was rightly referring to over-officious BBC officials, and the real concerns about editorial decisions taken by BBC journalists being over-ruled by bureaucrats on political grounds.
“That is unacceptable, and the First Minister will be raising the issue with Lord Patten, Chairman of the BBC Trust, when he meets him in Edinburgh on Thursday.”
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Comments
There are 641 comments to this article
Page 1 of 43
Ryan Dior
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 10:26 PMBully- Boy Him! Mr Salmond, I don't think so, he has not the common sence to carry out or inflict such a charge on his own, even had he been a fit male and layed off the Fish Supper's mind you, a bit of omega 3 would still be to late for the like's of him, and his Brain neourons clowded with Artheromic Arteries. may his thoughts Rest in peace Ryan Dior writer?Actor
Ryan Dior
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 10:16 PMI told U He' has Taken down all Ryan Dior's comments, can't take the heat Mr Salmond???????
mallus12
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 07:56 PMAnagach(637) Since when has a politician whom performs well in debates(against miserable opponents) been a measure of true worth. I doubt not Salmond's commitment-he has after all been in the SNP in bad times as well as riding high since oil was discovered. And it must be admitted he has been lucky-Lucky in being in charge when oil revenues boosted his party's standing and lucky in facing such third rate opposition. Enoch Powell said all political careers end in failure so who knows!
Richard Lionheart
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 04:58 PMRuth Davidson said " This is just more bully-boy tactics from Alex Salmond and an embarrassing way for Scotland’s First Minister to behave. " ........... What was really embarrassing was the political opposition in the form of Lamont, Davidson and Rennie. If they represent Scotlands best politicians, then we really are in trouble! Wouldn't trust them with Scotlands future!
Anagach
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 11:08 AM636 mallus12 I think NATS have lost sight of the point of Alex Salmond first and foremost he is a professional politician! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And he performs that well ahead of the competition. You should watch some debates.
mallus12
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 01:21 PMI think NATS have lost sight of the point of Alex Salmond(why is he called ECK by the way) He may be a MESSIAH to you but first and foremost he is a professional politician! And we all know you can trust politicians don't we!? Note how he constantly shifts his position in response to questioning. If I was elligible to vote I would consider him as trustworthy as Tony Blair.
Fergie35
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:52 PMFor your information here is a list of undesirable historical epithets directed at the FM: Thru the BBC 1. Slobodan Milosevic (Denis MacShane, Labour MP) 2. Benito Mussolini (Lord Foulkes, Labour peer) 3. Adolf Hitler (Tom Harris, Labour MP) 4. Adolf Hitler (Ann Moffat, Labour MP) 5. Joseph Stalin (Alan Cochrane, the Telegraph) 6. Robert Mugabe (Lord Cormack, Conservative peer) 7. Robert Mugabe (Jeremy Paxman, BBC) 8. Kim Jong-Il (Lord Forsyth, Conservative peer) 9. Caligula (John Macleod, the Times) 10. Nicolae Ceausescu (Neil Collins, the Financial Times) 11. Genghis Khan (Kevin McKenna, the Observer) 12. Nero (Annabel Goldie, Conservative MSP) 13. Adolf Hitler ( Ann Begg Labour) No real outcrys about these insults?
muddywater
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 06:21 AMJust watch the BBC today, Breakfast TV, first headline, English manager resigned, who's going to be the new one? The EBC is taking it's side and discriminating Scots. No say, but english news.
vistaero
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 08:53 PMComment removed by moderator
Scouse Dave
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 08:49 PMVote SNP!
rider000
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:32 PM629 Brit-free Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:40 PM call him FAT again its having absolutely no effect whatsoever to his record approval ratings ........................ AS is clearly a very humble and self effacing. Anyone who can't see that is just an anti-Scottish goose stepper.
HeatherMacinnes
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:20 PMBBC, News international , Westminster , until this last attack on the elected FM of Scotland i can understand him using t language he did toward's Ric Bailey , kettle & pot come's to mind ! Westminster has clearly set there pit bulls loss on the ppl & FM of SCOTLAND ,,,,, You must ask yourself why Westminster are behaving like it's war that's been declared against the ppl of Scotland why attack the FM that was elected by a majority of the ppl of Scotland , why not cut us loose if we are the ingrates they say we are ?? They have called FM and accused him of some of t most hideous behaviour knowing to man, it's a insult to all Scottish ppl they and there child like attack's fool no one !!!!
Brit-free
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:40 PMpillock, Fat Controller ...Jowly Eck ....nah , callin people names ?what a cheek .....still if you look up the dictionary definition , its secondary meaning ,( its contemprorary meaning ), is describing an over officious power mad petty official.......call him FAT again its having absolutely no effect whatsoever to his record approval ratings
mallus12
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:30 PMWe are told a week is a long time in politics so two years or more represents eons! Who is to say that the political landscape in two or so years will be anywhere as favourable to Salmond and the SNP. Will Salmond be like Callaghan in 19789 and Brown in 2008 and regretting his timidity?
Tam O'Banter
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 12:49 PMWhat an embarrassment Salmond is becoming. There surely cannot be many toys now left in his pram. Instead of his constant grandstanding, should he not be concentrating on jobs and the economy?
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