Holyrood magazine faces legal action over Alex Salmond interview

The political magazine has been contacted by London firm Bindmans, acting on behalf of Professor Kelly, to demand an apology and payment of legal expenses for publishing the First Minister's claims that the lawyer made "an incredibly comfortable living" from representing the human rights of prisoners.

The comments were made amid a political row over the role of the UK Supreme Court in Scots law.

The Scottish Government believes the London-based court's role in criminal cases north of the border has undermined Scotland's legal system.

Mr Salmond has refused to apologise and has said he had the right of fair comment on an important issue.

The Edinburgh-based magazine yesterday blanked out the reference to Professor Kelly, a partner at Coatbridge-based Taylor and Kelly, in its online edition, but has not removed the article.

It has been asked to make an apology, pay expenses, and make a contribution to charity in lieu of damages.

Mandy Rhodes, editor of Holyrood magazine, said: "It's interesting, given the headlines that we had last week about Tony Kelly suing the First Minister, that he's decided to make this magazine his first port of call. It's in the hands of our lawyers and that's where we'll leave it.

"I do think it's interesting that in the context of a whole debate on freedom of expression, that the question has to be 'was I meant to censor the First Minister'?

"The point that keeps getting missed in all of this is that there is a big debate to be had about this serious issue of the role of the Supreme Court, but some of the language being used has clouded that and in a way all of this is a bit of a distraction."

During First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament last week Mr Salmond refused demands from opposition MSPs to apologise and said there was "a real public issue" over compensation payments to criminals.

"These are real points of public concern, so as well as a right of free speech, we have a duty as parliamentarians to articulate the public concerns and try and bring proper remedy."

In the interview, given to Ms Rhodes, Mr Salmond also attacked Supreme Court judge Lord Hope of Craighead, one of two sitting Scots judges, over the case of Peter Cadder, where the court ruled that suspects should not be interviewed by police without being offered legal advice.The ruling went against a unanimous decision by seven judges at the Scottish Appeal Court and could lead to thousands of criminal appeals.

Lawyers from Bindmans are understood to have told Holyrood magazine that the First Minister made the comments in the heat of the moment and that editors should have realised this, despite the fact Mr Salmond stood by his claims after publication.

Prof Kelly was not available for comment last night.

A lawyer at Bindmans yesterday said no-one from the firm's media law department was available to comment.