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INCOHERENT GIBBERISH JIBE AS KNIVES COME OUT IN PARLIAMENT OVER PETER MURRELL CASE …

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First Minister Swinney, Labour leader Sarwar and his deputy, Dumbarton Labour MSP Jackie Baillie, who was accused of talking ‘incoherent gibberish’ on the radio. 

by Bill Heaney

Presiding Officer Kenny Gibson should have been handing out See You Jimmy hats before First Minister’s Question Time in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.

This debate was meant to be an illustration of all pals together and cheers of encouragement for the Scotland football team, who play Haiti in their first game of the World Cup in Boston on Sunday morning.

It turned out, however, only to demonstrate that our politicians are not all Jock Tamson’s Bairns, far from it in fact.
Labour leader Anas Sarwar set the ball rolling by wishing the Scotland team and the Tartan Army the best of luck as the opening match between Mexico and South Africa ended with a Mexican victory and three red cards being shown by the referee.
He said: “I am sure that the one thing that unites all of us in the chamber is our support for Steve Clarke and the Scotland team.”
But the goodwill cum unity, if it ever existed at all, plunged immediately into ad hominem attacks and references to the disorder in Belfast which swam across the Irish Sea faster than a Stena Line ferry.
Mr Sarwar told MSPs: “Speaking of unity, like many people, I was horrified and angered by the knife attack in Belfast. Justice must be done, and lessons must be learned, but there is never any justification for such horror and anger to turn into violence, racism and disorder on our streets.
“Those who are being intimidated on our streets or in our places of worship—whether that is a mosque, a synagogue or any other faith centre—must hear loudly and clearly from us all that this is not who we are, that those who seek to divide us do not speak for us and that Scotland belongs to us all.

“As we face the rising challenge of disillusionment with and mistrust of our politics and our institutions, does the First Minister agree that rebuilding and restoring such trust is the responsibility of all us who want the politics of hatred to be defeated,” he asked John Swinney.

The First Minister, John Swinney, replied: “I will begin on the question of the World Cup—I associate myself directly with Mr Sarwar’s comments.
“I look forward enormously to travelling to Boston to support Scotland on Saturday evening. I extend my warmest wishes to Steve Clarke, Andy Robertson and the whole of the Scotland men’s team, who have done Scotland proud in getting to the World Cup. We look forward enormously to their success.

“To contribute to the occasion, I decided to wear my no Scotland, no party tie to First Minister’s question time today. I hope that will bring some good cheer to the team over the weekend.

“On the serious issue of disorder, I agree 100 per cent with what Mr Sarwar said. There is a rising tide of hateful rhetoric spreading in our society, which is inciting people to behave in a reckless, aggressive and thuggish fashion.

“This is a peaceful country. Scotland is a welcoming country, and I will exercise the leadership—as I know Mr Sarwar will—to make sure that Scotland always remains a tolerant, welcoming and inclusive country.”

But the peacefulness, welcoming and trust went straight over the bar and into the crowd in the public gallery.

Anas Sarwar said: “On the issue of trust, last night, the Scottish National Party voted down an inquiry into the lessons and implications of Operation Branchform and the conviction of Peter Murrell. The reason given was that the SNP believed that the proposal was an attempt by political rivals to investigate the inner workings of another political party. As I made clear yesterday, that is not my intention.

“The crimes of Peter Murrell are for Peter Murrell, pictured right outside the High Court, but issues have been raised that go beyond the internal workings of the SNP.

“There are legitimate questions for Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Lord Advocate, the Electoral Commission, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and others, including the Scottish Legal Aid Board, on why a wealthy man, who owns property abroad and says that he has the means to immediately pay back £400,000, had access to legal aid. Scots demand answers to those valid questions.

“John Swinney says that he wants to avoid an inquiry into the inner workings of the SNP. I agree. So, will he work on a cross-party basis to agree the terms of reference, the scope and the remit of any parliamentary inquiry before supporting any such inquiry?”

The First Minister replied by sticking the dirk into Labour, a blade which hopefully none of the Tartan Army will possess down their socks during the tournament.
He said: “If that was an attempt by Mr Sarwar to provide some order and clarity on his position, it was necessary, because anyone who listened to the incoherent gibberish that Jackie Baillie, LEFT,  came out with on the radio this morning in trying to defend the Labour position will know that Labour has just been trying to score grubby political points on this whole issue for weeks. Labour should be ashamed.

“We have gone through a process in which my party has been the victim of an embezzlement, which has been the subject of a criminal case that has been researched by Police Scotland and put in front of the Crown, and for which a successful prosecution has been obtained.

“That is what has happened in this particular case. I do not believe that there is a case for an independent inquiry or a parliamentary inquiry into that issue, because that work has been done by the police, and no organisation can take forward an investigation into the issue in a more sophisticated way than the police can. Mr Sarwar should leave it at that.”

Anas Sarwar replied: “I am not asking to get into the inner workings of the police investigation or of operation branchform; I am talking about the institutions in this country and about legitimate questions. Following the letter from the Government this morning, I have written to the Electoral Commission saying that we will support and engage in any review of party finances.
“My question is about operation branchform, its implications, and the lessons to be learned from it. That was an investigation into the governing party of Scotland, and it would further undermine public trust and confidence, and our democracy, if the governing party were now to block any attempt to look at the lessons and implications of that investigation and of the subsequent convictions.

“Rebuilding trust is a task for us all, which is why, today, I have written to all political parties, asking them to meet and to start the work of agreeing on the terms of reference for and scope of any potential inquiry. That should be a process that the SNP and the Greens are willing to engage with in good faith.

“The governance of the SNP is for John Swinney and the SNP, but scrutiny of the Government and our institutions is for Parliament and parliamentarians—it is, in fact, our duty.

“So, I ask John Swinney whether he is prepared to confront a culture of secrecy and cover-up and to put country before party by agreeing to the terms of a meaningful inquiry.”

The First Minister told MSPs: “What does Mr Sarwar think we are engaged in just now? This is scrutiny. I am here to answer questions in front of Parliament, twice a week—as are all my ministers on a regular basis—so that the Government is put under scrutiny.

“Mr Sarwar keeps on saying that he does not want an internal investigation into the SNP, but that is exactly what he has just made the case for and was the case that failed in Parliament yesterday.

“Mr Sarwar is going to have to accept that democratic outcomes must take their course. The first one he is going to have to accept is that Parliament rejected the argument that he put forward.

“The other democratic outcome that Mr Sarwar will have to come to terms with is the outcome of the election, when all those issues were thrown about by Mr Sarwar.

“He came to Parliament, week after week, issuing comments, smearing his opponents, smearing me, my Government and the SNP—and the people decided to send fewer Labour MSPs to this Parliament as a consequence of the election.

“I simply say to Mr Sarwar that it is time that he acknowledged the failure of his strategy to hold this Government to account and that he should come up with a better strategy than the one he is pursuing.”

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