Bunkered by World Cup controversy

JACK McConnell, the First Minister, was coming under increasing pressure last night to retract his anti-English stance on the World Cup after it emerged that a Scottish golf complex had missed out on thousands of pounds of trade as a direct result of his comments.

The Scotsman revealed yesterday that an unnamed English company had withdrawn from a conference in Scotland after managers reacted angrily to Mr McConnell's decision to support one of England's opponents, Trinidad and Tobago, in Germany.

The First Minister disparaged the report, claiming it was "exaggerated nonsense" as no-one had actually produced any evidence that a company had cancelled a conference for that reason.

Today, The Scotsman can reveal the conference was the responsibility of a London organiser who had booked a group of 60 chartered surveyors into the Swallow Carnoustie Golf Resort in Angus.

The group, from a firm in central London, were due to stay for a couple of days, either late this year or early next year, and were booked to play golf and hold meetings throughout the two-day conference. But the booking was cancelled on 26 May, two days after Mr McConnell said he would not support England.

The surveyors have now been booked in provisionally at the Suffolk Golf Resort and Country Club, in Bury St Edmonds, which was delighted to take the trade Scotland had lost.

A manager at the Carnoustie resort tried to play down the incident yesterday, confirming that the booking had been cancelled but insisting it had not been dropped purely for "political reasons".

However, Alan Bowes, the executive chairman of the London Edinburgh Swallow Group, confirmed the conference had been cancelled because of Mr McConnell's remarks about the World Cup, and urged the First Minister to retract them.

Mr McConnell said last month that he would not be supporting England. Instead, he said he would be backing teams with Scottish-based players in them - mentioning Trinidad and Tobago and Angola as examples.

Mr Bowes said he wanted to play down the row because he did not want to lose any more trade. But he insisted it was "absolutely true" that an English company had cancelled its conference in reaction to the First Minister's comments.

"I know the person who did it - he did it in a fit of temper. He feels the Scottish ministers have been xenophobic," Mr Bowes said.

He went on: "If the First Minister was joking, then he should retract it."

Mr McConnell refused to back down yesterday. He told the BBC World Service: "I think this is exaggerated nonsense. But if someone has done that [cancelled a conference], they will be the people who have the regrets. This is the best place in the world to have a conference."

Mr McConnell refused to accept he had offended anybody. "I don't think I have ruffled any feathers at all," he said. "This is a football tournament, not a war."