Pressure is mounting on Alex Salmond to come clean over his relationship with Rupert Murdoch, who last night called the first minister “an amusing guy”.
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Pressure is mounting on Alex Salmond to come clean over his relationship with Rupert Murdoch, who last night called the first minister “an amusing guy”.
Murdoch told the Leveson Inquiry yesterday he has a “warm” relationship with Salmond, enjoys his company and enjoys “talking with him or listening to him”. As Left Foot Forward reported yesterday, the SNP leader and his party have been heavily implicated in the Frederic Michel emails (pdf), which also threaten to bring down the UK culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.
In a scathing editorial today, the Daily Record today say:
In Westminster, a Tory adviser has been thrown on to the sacrificial bonfire. In Scotland, a loyal SNP official is being asked his choice of last meal before going in front of the Leveson Inquiry.
Alex Salmond and Jeremy Hunt spent all of yesterday desperately trying to wash the Murdoch stain off their political reputations.
As we predicted yesterday, Salmond portrayed his involvement in the BSkyB deal as a Scottish patriot getting jobs and investment into Dunfermline. But as he repeated that line, the excuse wore thinner and thinner across all channels.
Salmond didn’t become News Corp’s chum without thinking of the political advantage Murdoch’s backing for the SNP would deliver.
Offering dinner in Bute House to James Murdoch, the head of News International, after the revelations about hacking Millie Dowler’s phone had been made?
That shows that the First Minister has not just broken his political antennae – but when it comes to the stench of the Murdoch empire, he has also lost his sense of smell.
• Leveson: Salmond and the Lib Dems implicated in Murdoch emails 25 Apr 2012
• Is Jeremy Hunt a “cheerleader” for the Murdochs? 24 Apr 2012
• Murdoch goes Salmond-fishing 3 Mar 2012
• Salmond courts Murdoch 28 Feb 2012
• The 25 questions over the SNP’s Murdoch links 19 Jul 2011
This lunchtime, Salmond appeared before the Scottish Parliament to face a grilling from MSPs over his relationship with the Murdochs and News International, having been called on by opposition leaders to “urgently appear” before Holyrood to account for his actions.
The first minister has, however, pulled out of an appearance on BBC Question Time tonight.
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21 Responses to “Under-fire Salmond has “lost his sense of smell” over the “stench of Murdoch””
Sean Morton
Under-fire Salmond has “lost his sense of smell” over the “stench of Murdoch”, reports @ShamikDas: http://t.co/ZZYfSkQQ #Leveson
Shamik Das
Under-fire Salmond has “lost his sense of smell” over the “stench of Murdoch”, reports @ShamikDas: http://t.co/ZZYfSkQQ #Leveson
Pulp Ark
Under-fire Salmond has “lost his sense of… http://t.co/fiy2yuF5 #CleanPolitics #AlexSalmond #JeremyHunt #Murdoch #muslim #tcot #sioa
leftlinks
Left Foot Forward – Under-fire Salmond has “lost his sense of smell” over the “stench of… http://t.co/giTvJGQM
Foxy52
Under-fire Salmond has “lost his sense of smell” over the “stench of Murdoch”, reports @ShamikDas: http://t.co/ZZYfSkQQ #Leveson