Mike Russell's local work comes under fire

IT IS one of the most isolated schools in the country, way out on the tip of the Kintyre peninsula. But Mike Russell would be keeping his appointment there none the less.

• Mike Russell and his wife Cathleen, a head teacher in the area who left one of the threatened schools for a job in Dunoon

It was 5 November, a Friday, and Scotland's powerful education secretary had a meeting booked with the parents of the closure-threatened Southend Primary. There are 370,000 primary school children in Scotland. Tiny Southend, a dozen miles from the coast of Ireland, houses just 26 of them. But for the parliamentary candidate for Argyll and Bute, whose future hangs on a nail-biting election contest in a few months time in the area, the fate of those 26 pupils had particular importance.

Russell was "very helpful", say parents who attended the meeting. First, he informed them of his conflicted position. As education secretary, Russell could not be seen to be taking a side. Robert Millar, a local parent who attended the meeting, said: "He made that quite clear before he started. He said I can't comment about the school and say anything with the job I've got." But then, he went on to advise them about the bigger picture. "What he did do was give us a few people to get in touch with, including the Scottish Rural Schools Network (which campaigns for the retention of rural schools]."

For all concerned, the meeting was a success. But this week, Russell's assiduous local work in what he hopes will soon be his home patch is under growing scrutiny. Opposition parties want to know whether he would have been quite so helpful to schools in parts of the country where he isn't trying to win a close election fight. Local council critics claim he has blurred the boundaries between his job as education secretary and his position as local SNP candidate, allowing local people to think they have the ear of the minister, and riding roughshod over ministerial rules which insist the two roles be kept separate. And, having become so closely involved with schools across the area, council chiefs are now querying whether the Scottish Government can be relied on as a neutral final arbiter. Russell has long been one of the SNP's most confident and bullish performers. But has he this time over-stepped the mark?

The row engulfing Russell this weekend emerged at the beginning of last week but dates back well over a year to when the council in Argyll and Bute began to tackle the problem of its school estate. The council region, which covers a huge but thinly populated area, has 74 primary schools. Around a third, however, have fewer than 20 pupils. Ellen Morton, the council's Lib Dem education spokeswoman, says: "For some of them, there are very good reasons for that, such as those on islands. But the bottom line is that we have more school places than we have children to fill them."

So last year, the council - then run by an SNP-Independent coalition - began to examine a way to save funds by merging some of them. The controversial proposals released in the autumn were "gob-smacking" in the words of one councillor. A total of 25 schools would be considered for merger or closure in a forthcoming consultation.

For Russell this was something approaching the perfect storm. The SNP had its hands all over the plans; the council's education spokeswoman at the time was an SNP member, Isobel Strong. The issue threatened to bring down his entire election campaign.

Publicly, Russell was powerless to do much at all. Just to add to complications, Russell's wife Cathleen is a head teacher in the area. Eyebrows had already been raised after she left one of the schools threatened with closure, Toward Primary, for another job in Dunoon last autumn. A minefield of conflicts of interest lay before him, and he could not be seen to be getting involved. Just before Christmas, Russell confirmed to parliament that "as I have a close connection with the Argyll and Bute constituency, it would be quite improper for me to comment on the closure process there". His deputy Angela Constance was to take full responsibility for the affair.

But privately, as is now becoming clear, Russell was all over the affair, acting exactly like the local MSP he hopes to be, but still isn't. Last Tuesday, an e-mail written by Russell to his SNP councillors in November was leaked to the press. In the e-mail, Russell was adamant that the consultation process backed by the SNP up till then must now be dumped. "If the group supports these proposals next week we will have very severe problems which could be very destructive to our reputation and prospects," he warned.

The lengthy e-mail called on the councillors to quit the coalition, and went on to express his "surprise" that his alternative plans on closures had been "totally ignored". "Council officials have remained obdurate and have driven policy. Indeed, I now know that at least one of those officials has been briefing against me." There were "eight or nine that could be taken through with minimal difficulty", he added.

Russell's warnings were heeded. After a hastily convened meeting of the SNP group in Inveraray in late November, the SNP councillors rescinded their support for the consultation and quit the council, to be replaced by a Lib Dem, Tory, and Independent group.

Russell was closely involved throughout the period. On 5 November, in a meeting arranged through one of the local SNP councillors, he met the parents at Southend, offering advice to them on how best to proceed. Another meeting took place with parents and teachers at another school, Luing Primary. He also visited Barcaldine Primary where, according to those present, he explained the inner workings of the new Schools Consultation Act to parents, helping them gain more understanding about the flaws in the whole Argyll and Bute plan.

Many neutral observers in the region say Russell's concerns about the school closure proposals were justified: the consultation exercise was seen widely as unpopular and flawed; a re-think, approved last week, will take place which has more chance of winning public approval across the area. A spokesman for the SNP said last night: "The real issue is that the Argyll and Bute administration had to withdraw their flawed plans to close 25 local primary schools, at the special meeting demanded by the SNP, which is excellent news for pupils and parents." But the wider and separate point remains about whether he was right to get involved quite so closely.

His e-mail, complaining about the council, has prompted the local authority's chief executive to write to the Scottish Government to "express concern" about Russell's views, and to "seek assurances" that the school closures - which are still going to happen - will be dealt with properly if and when it goes before Scottish ministers. Even though Russell has insisted he will have nothing to do with the matter from now on, his political critics say there is no chance now that the matter will be seen to be fair.

And as for his meetings across the area with parents, the question being asked is: would he be quite so accommodating if he didn't just so happen to be standing for election in Argyll this May? The budget cuts affecting the entire country mean many other schools are going to face closure or merger over the coming months. Local Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said last night: "Is he now going to meet parents from every school in Scotland that is threatened with closure, or was he giving special treatment to this group because he is seeking election?"

There is also evidence Russell allowed his role as Parliamentary candidate with his job as education secretary to get mixed up. Scotland on Sunday understands that Russell agreed to meet the schools in his capacity as their local Parliamentary candidate. That is not how it was seen on the other side. "We invited him along because he was the education minister," said Millar at Southend. Meanwhile, e-mails from school parent groups sent after their discussions with Russell describe how they had discussed their case with the "education minister". It is understood that Russell did not travel to the school using a government car, instead paying his own way there, but as far as the schools were concerned, it appears they saw it as their chance to get the ear of the man in charge.

Conventions were also by-passed. Russell was invited to the schools by the local SNP councillor or by parents. But he did not inform the local council's head of education, as is normally the case when politicians visit school properties. Was this because council officials might have objected to the education secretary meeting parents opposed to their plans? Morton added: "As a courtesy I would expect the education secretary to contact the head of education before visiting a school. It is disappointing that he did not do so on these occasions."

Russell now faces a probe from the Standards Commissioner into whether he has broken the MSP's code of conduct on "poaching" business. The MSPs code of conduct states: "An MSP must not deal with a matter relating to a constituency case or constituency issue out with his or her constituency or region (as the case may be) unless by prior agreement." SNP sources say Russell told the MSP for the seat, the SNP's Jim Mather, he was getting involved. The Standards Commissioner must rule on whether Russell was justified in getting involved in an issue for which he has yet to have a democratic mandate.

Some local councillors think it is a storm in a teacup. Independent councillor George Freeman said: "I think to consider that a local politician with local connections is not going to show some interest would be amazing." Others disagree, pointing not just to the MSPs code of conduct, but to the ministerial code which asserts that ministers must keep their ministerial brief separate from constituency business. Morton - whose Lib Dem party is fighting against Russell for the Argyll and Bute seat - says: "He has muddled up his position of the parliamentary candidate with his role as minister and he has completely forgotten the protocol and etiquette involved. He would have just about been OK if he had been the MSP for Argyll and Bute but he isn't. He has put people in a very difficult position."

There are rarely any dull moments with Michael Russell. He stands accused of meddling and breaking codes of behaviour. His supporters would argue, however, that this is simply a case of a clear-sighted politician getting things done which needed doing. This week the Parliament returns to business, with Labour promising to raise the Argyll case with him. The sparks will continue to fly for a while yet.