Cabinet move

In Tuesday’s edition of The Scotsman, Andrew Whitaker, in his Sketch column, mentioned that the UK Cabinet meeting on 24 February had taken place in the Granite City for the first time in nearly a century.

Mr Whitaker then proceeded to say that the last prime minister to bring his Cabinet to Scotland’s third-biggest city was David Lloyd George and that his visit to Aberdeen was in 1921.

In fact, before 2008, the only UK Cabinet meeting outwith London actually took place in Inverness in 1921. On 7 September that year, the prime minister, who was on holiday in Gairloch, called an emergency meeting to discuss the political situation in Ireland.

At this meeting, the Inverness Formula was agreed which formed the basis of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921; this Treaty led to the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922.

Michael Horsburgh

Swanston Muir

Edinburgh