Brown slams 'vindictive' church body

THE brother of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has launched a blistering attack on a Church of Scotland committee, accusing it of pursuing a "vindictive" agenda and "deceiving" last month's General Assembly.

John Brown said handing responsibility for the church's publishing house the Saint Andrew Press and its magazine Life & Work to the missionary and discipleship council had been a "disaster".

He claimed Kirk chiefs would be failing in their duty if they failed to step in.

Mr Brown resigned from the Kirk's publishing committee last month in protest at plans for the effective closure of Saint Andrew Press. Now he has warned Kirk magazine Life & Work could go the same way.

He said: "The missionary and discipleship council lacks any understanding of publishing and sadly wants to mould Life & Work and Saint Andrew Press for its own purposes, rather than for the wider church – a move that will accelerate the magazine's demise, as has happened to Saint Andrew Press."

A Kirk spokesman insisted there had never been a "vindictive vendetta" against Saint Andrew Press. He said the Council of Assembly had been fully supportive of the mission and discipleship council's position.