SNP’s mixed messages on beleaguered Campbell Gunn

ALEX Salmond yesterday resisted calls to sack his senior adviser who made a false claim about the mother of a disabled child, despite mounting pressure from opposition parties.
Alex Salmond stood by Campbell Gunn despite calls to sack him. Picture: Alan MurrayAlex Salmond stood by Campbell Gunn despite calls to sack him. Picture: Alan Murray
Alex Salmond stood by Campbell Gunn despite calls to sack him. Picture: Alan Murray

Opposition MSPs stepped up their calls for adviser Campbell Gunn to leave his taxpayer-funded post after the First Minister appeared to suggest his behaviour contravened the special advisers’ code of conduct.

But within 90 minutes of Mr Salmond indicating to MSPs that Mr Gunn’s actions were not appropriate, the First Minister had issued a statement backtracking on his remarks.

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Mr Gunn has been criticised for making inaccurate claims about Clare Lally, the mother of a disabled child, after she spoke out against independence.

Earlier this week, Ms Lally spoke at a Better Together rally, describing herself as an “ordinary person” and arguing for Scotland to remain within the United Kingdom.

Mr Gunn, a former political journalist, sent an e-mail to a newspaper suggesting Ms Lally was not an “ordinary person”, but a member of Labour’s shadow cabinet and daughter-in-law of Glasgow’s former Labour lord provost Pat Lally.

Asked about the row at First Minister’s Questions, Mr Salmond admitted Mr Gunn made a “mistake” in describing Ms Lally as a relation of the former lord provost – the two Lallys are not related.

The First Minister went on to say that Mr Gunn had made a “misjudgment” by pointing out her Labour credentials in the e-mail. Mr Salmond said: “The misjudgment is believing that drawing attention in an e-mail to someone’s Labour Party connections, whether it is a member of the shadow cabinet or any other connection, was an appropriate thing to do.”

The Scottish Government’s special advisers’ code of conduct states that: “The preparation or dissemination of inappropriate material or personal attacks has no part to play in the job of being a special adviser as it has no part to play in the conduct of public life.” It warns that breach of the code will lead to dismissal by the relevant minister.

At a weekly briefing held after First Minister’s Questions, Mr Salmond’s official spokesman Stuart Nicolson was asked whether Mr Gunn’s e-mail was “appropriate”. Mr Nicolson replied, “Well, clearly not.”

However, shortly after the briefing, Mr Salmond issued a statement which appeared at odds with his earlier comments in parliament and those of his official spokesman. “As I made clear in the chamber, Campbell Gunn was guilty of a mistake and a misjudgment and has comprehensively apologised for that. He was not guilty of disseminating inappropriate material in terms of the special adviser code,” Mr Salmond’s statement said.

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“I have made clear that I expect all special advisers to act appropriately and strictly within the rules of the code at all times.”

Labour’s business manager Paul Martin claimed that the Scottish Government had “stooped to a new low”.

Mr Martin said: “The special advisers’ code is clear: sending out inappropriate material means a special adviser should be automatically dismissed.

“The First Minister admitted in the chamber that his adviser’s misjudgment was to think his actions were appropriate. The First Minister’s spokesman has confirmed that his colleague’s behaviour was not appropriate.”

He added: “If that is the view of the First Minister’s office then clearly Mr Gunn has breached the special advisers’ code and the First Minister should immediately sack him.”

In the chamber, Mr Salmond had argued the special advisers’ code was drawn up in response to the behaviour of former Labour special adviser Damian McBride, who spread “vile” and “evil” rumours about political rivals. Mr Salmond also said nothing in Mr Gunn’s e-mail could be construed as “vitriolic, mindless abuse”. Mr Salmond added that Mr Gunn had not been responsible for the “torrent of abuse across the internet” to which Ms Lally was subjected.

But at yesterday’s briefing, Mr Nicolson admitted that the inaccurate information had been lifted from the internet.

The claim about Ms Lally first appeared on the Wings Over Scotland website, run by former journalist Stuart Campbell, who has built a following among nationalist campaigners but caused outrage for his views, which include blaming the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster for the crush that killed them.

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Mr Campbell – who recently registered Wings Over Scotland as an official participant in the independence campaign – has also used the site to call on nationalist campaigners to photograph their opponents so that they can be publicly identified.

Mr Martin said: “Some of the most vicious cybernats pump out material which feeds the First Minister’s office. The First Minister’s office doesn’t lead the abuse; they are led by it.”

Mr Nicolson also complained about the press making public Mr Gunn’s e-mail about Ms Lally.

He said: “What was essentially the kind of private exchange, and I know it doesn’t say ‘private’ or ‘off the record’… If we’ve got to the stage people in Campbell’s position, people in my position, cannot have the sort of exchange – be it verbal, be it a one-line e-mail, solicited or unsolicited, marked as private, not marked as private – then we’ve come to a pretty sorry pass.”

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