Alex Salmond: I’ll campaign with Tories to stay in EU – Telegraph

Last Updated: May 22, 2015By

It will be very interesting to see the SNP’s fan club squirming out of this.

The former First Minister is accused of “staggering” hypocrisy after vilifying Labour for campaigning with the Conservatives during the independence referendum.

Mr Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, his successor, have spent months lambasting Labour for campaigning alongside the Conservatives to keep Scotland in the UK ahead of last year’s independence referendum.

They have suggested that Labour’s participation in the victorious Better Together campaign meant they were little more than ‘red Tories’ and argued that Scots will never forgive them for joining the Better Together alliance to save the Union.

The tactic appeared effective in convincing many traditional Labour voters to abandon the party in favour of the SNP during the general election, in which the Nationalists won 56 out of 59 seats north of the Border.

Alex Johnstone, a Tory MSP, described the comment as “hypocrisy of the highest order”, adding: “Salmond conveniently forgets that he himself relied on the Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament during his four years in minority government.

“He then went on to slate Labour politicians in Scotland for campaigning alongside the Conservatives in the independence referendum. Now, because it suits him, the goalposts have changed again.”

How many will slate the SNP for this obvious hypocrisy? When you’re a fan, you tend to forgive anything.

It’s a clear example of double standards.

Source: Alex Salmond: I’ll campaign with Tories to stay in EU – Telegraph

48 Comments

  1. Charles Norman Hay May 22, 2015 at 10:42 am - Reply

    What are Labour going to do vote against the EU ??? its always been the SNP policy to STAY IN THE EU. Mike you must stay off the hubbly bubbly you are definitely losing the plot or are you a exit the EU supporter?

    • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 10:55 am - Reply

      It was always Labour policy to keep Scotland in the union, but that didn’t stop the SNP from attacking that party, did it?
      Rage all you want, you can’t justify this hypocrisy on any level at all.

      • tommy May 22, 2015 at 6:21 pm - Reply

        Sounds like you’re the one in a rage!

        • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 6:43 pm - Reply

          How so?

      • christopherreay May 22, 2015 at 6:33 pm - Reply

        The SNP is a democractically run party. The SNP is a growing party representing the views of the scottish people. The SNP slates Labour not for siding with the Conservatives on staying in the Union, but because of the Contents of the Message they used to argue the idea. Fear of economic destruction, fear fear fear, nonsense. The question of independence is an ideological one, not one that can be argued because of logical economic or political reasons.

        • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 6:49 pm - Reply

          No, the SNP very clearly attacked – and is still attacking – Labour for siding with the Conservatives in Better Together.
          If you are suggesting otherwise, then you either do not understand the situation or you are lying.
          Those other elements you mention may have been part of the SNP argument – and I’m not admitting any truth in them – but it was the claim that Labour was a party of ‘Red Tories’, ‘in cahoots’ with the Conservatives, that was the fuel for the SNP.

      • smac May 22, 2015 at 6:37 pm - Reply

        However much you might wish it to happen the SNP will not campaign arm in arm with the Conservatives in the EU referendum unlike the Red Tories did in the Indy Ref. Yes the SNP will campaign for the UK remaining in the EU but they will do so on their own – independent of the Blue, Red and Yellow Tories.

        As the saying goes “you had to be there” to really understand what Labour did so wrong in the indy ref campaign.

        • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 6:50 pm - Reply

          There is no difference between what Salmond has offered Cameron over the EU and what the SNP claimed of Labour in Better Together. Get used to the ‘Tartan Tories’ moniker – it’s going to stick.

      • Maureen Luby May 23, 2015 at 4:19 pm - Reply

        Wow! The bitterness is strong in this one! You have lost it lol!

        • Mike Sivier May 23, 2015 at 4:45 pm - Reply

          What bitterness?
          Oh! You meant in you?

    • Andy Tomlins (@andytomlins) May 23, 2015 at 6:08 pm - Reply

      Poor scotnats are about to find out politicians are two faced liars. So naive.

  2. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) May 22, 2015 at 10:53 am - Reply

    I get your point Mike and I totally agree with you. I just make the point that even if it is rather hypocritical I am glad that he is on the side of staying in the EU, no matter which party he belongs to, lol! and I don’t mean “lots of love”!

  3. W*T H*L*B*T May 22, 2015 at 11:13 am - Reply

    I don’t get it. SNP want to leave the UK, OK got that, I don’t get why they want to be ruled by Brussels/Strasbourg by staying in the EU? It does not make sense.

    • di May 23, 2015 at 7:50 am - Reply

      We already have EU and westminster policy , they want rid of Westminster.

  4. brian mcneill May 22, 2015 at 6:12 pm - Reply

    Yawns

  5. Denis Bell May 22, 2015 at 6:19 pm - Reply

    Err Mike, I think you’ve lost it….Scotland’s position is aligned with Europe ( hey of course it’s not all ‘wonderful’ !!) …AS is saying that of course SNP would work with those Toies who’d wish to stay in Europe… Please stop the hypocrisy thing and think on. We all know DC is about negotiating as the Big Hard in Britain’s interest…but Big and All businesses will suggest that a 350 million population in the Community is CRITICALLY important to ‘the UK’s trading position…

    • Denis Bell May 22, 2015 at 6:20 pm - Reply

      Editing these posts is desperately annoying…!!!! Slow as ‘get out’!!!

    • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 6:42 pm - Reply

      Still hypocritical of Salmond to say he’ll campaign with Cameron.
      Besides, as PM and head of the government, isn’t it Cameron’s job, and nothing to do with the SNP?

  6. smac6691 May 22, 2015 at 6:25 pm - Reply

    The Torygraph. Really????

    • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 6:44 pm - Reply

      Are you suggesting an inaccuracy?
      If so, you want to be careful. The Torygraph was right all the way down the line about Memogate.

  7. Mick Cavanagh May 22, 2015 at 6:28 pm - Reply

    are you absolutely sure of your information here? You are basing your story on an article from the telegraph and that particular rag has been long discredited and cannot be viewed as a credible source. The SNP is still in favour of being a member of the EU and has a track record as such. The conservative party in contrast has an internal schism. The SNP will be promoting its position in Scotland and I would assume the Labour party, aspects of the Conservative party and the Lib Dems will be promoting it in England and Wales. The SNP position will be to ensure that Scotland cannot be bound by a decision in England, Wales and NI that would take the rest of the UK out of the EU. The spin you put on it is plainly disingenuous

    • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 6:46 pm - Reply

      See my response to smac6691 regarding Torygraph accuracy.
      I haven’t put any spin on it – just saying it as it is.

  8. Fiona Fletcher May 22, 2015 at 6:38 pm - Reply

    If you want an example of hypocrisy, look no further than the Labour party. During the Scottish referendum, I remember seeing many posters from the Labour party saying ‘only a no vote can save the nhs’. During the general election the wording had changed to say ‘only a vote for labour can save the NHS’. Claims about the dangers of privatisation by the SNP were rubbished as scaremongering, when Milliband & Co knew full well what the dangers were but chose to lie to the Scottish electorate to keep us in the UK.

    • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 6:53 pm - Reply

      No, let’s not look at Labour.
      Let’s look at the SNP.
      We’ve had all the claims about Memogate – proved untrue after a Cabinet Office investigation.
      We’ve had the fox hunting debacle, in which SNP ‘principles’ would have meant siding with the Conservatives.
      We’ve had the ‘battle of the benches’, in which SNP MPs tried to gang up on an 83-year-old Labour MP.
      Now we’ve got Alex Salmond in cahoots with David Cameron over the EU.
      And only 15 days have passed since the election!

      As for the NHS – what makes you think it’s safe?

  9. william Keenan May 22, 2015 at 7:41 pm - Reply

    Mike what a buffoon you continue to be, the Tories and Labour are out of the same mould now, they are like identical twins, if the Tories want to keep the disjointed kingdom in the EU why call a referendum at all – the SNP are here to stay and we will show the old boys club a thing or two in the next few years get used to it, because after all you and your compatriots made one hell of a song and dance about keeping us in your club even going to great lying lengths to besmirch our first minister during the election campaign- think one A Carmichael

    • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 10:09 pm - Reply

      You really don’t understand what the Cabinet Office investigation found.
      It found that the memo was an accurate account of the conversation between the unnamed civil servant and the French Consul General.
      You don’t know that anything at all was lost in translation; neither do I. Nor did one A Carmichael.
      All of this is in the Cabinet Office report.
      It all looks bad for the French Consul General – either he was lying about what went on between Sturgeon and the Ambassador or he’s lying now. But then, it’s hardly as if his job depends on it so it’s doubtful he’s going to lose any sleep over it.

  10. Fiona Fletcher May 22, 2015 at 10:33 pm - Reply

    Mike, if you read the actual letter Carmichael wrote to Nicola, he says himself ‘the details of that account are not correct’ (referring to the memo). How much more proof do you need that the allegation was false?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-32849065

    • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 11:20 pm - Reply

      And if you read the Cabinet Office Report, you will see that Carmichael was in no position to judge.

  11. Fiona Fletcher May 22, 2015 at 10:38 pm - Reply

    Nice deflection regarding my previous comment by the way ;)

    • Mike Sivier May 22, 2015 at 11:20 pm - Reply

      You were trying to divert the discussion away from the SNP; it seemed only right that I divert it back.

  12. Derek Inglis May 23, 2015 at 6:27 am - Reply

    The Telegraph tory rag stirring it again its their MO its fake

    • Mike Sivier May 23, 2015 at 12:02 pm - Reply

      From the Cabinet Office report, referring to the civil servant who wrote the memo, and the document itself: “He is reliable and has no history of inaccurate reporting, impropriety or security lapses. The Cabinet Secretary has concluded that there is no reason to doubt that he recorded accurately”.

      And you say the memo is fake?

      • Alphabeard May 23, 2015 at 8:33 pm - Reply

        Have you read the memo? The author actually says that they doubt the statement had been accurately conveyed within the memo. The investigation was actually directed at why the memo was allowed to leak but the press release was pretty light on those details.

        • Mike Sivier May 24, 2015 at 7:17 pm - Reply

          This has already been covered; read some of the other comments.

      • Wes Wemyss May 23, 2015 at 8:51 pm - Reply

        Why not finish the quote – “The Cabinet Secretary has concluded that there is no reason to doubt that he recorded accurately what he thought he had heard.”

        Now why would you leave that last bit out?

        The Report also states that the memo writer “believed that the memo was an accurate record of the conversation that took place between him and the French Consul General, and highlighted that the memo had stated that part of the conversation between the French Ambassador and the First Minister might well have been “lost in translation”.”

        Now why wouldn’t you mention that?

        Your blind faith in the veracity of a story in the Torygraph confirms you as a Red Tory.

        • Mike Sivier May 23, 2015 at 9:08 pm - Reply

          I missed out “what he thought he had heard” because that seems to be a complete misinterpretation of what the memo states. Its author very definitely heard what he wrote into the memo – there can be no doubt about that. Look at the way it is written. He questions what he heard, but in a way that makes it clear he doubts whether the consul general correctly understood what he had been told.
          However…
          Looking at it from a diplomatic point of view, as I have explained in the ‘Vox Political vindicated’ article comments, it seems clear the civil servant was offering the French ‘plausible deniability’, in order to keep relations smooth between our two nations. There is no reason to believe there was any misunderstanding between the people concerned.

          Now, unless you’re going to suggest that there was a fault on the line when the civil servant was talking to the consul general, do you really have anything else to offer?
          The insult you offer at the end says everything anybody needs to know about the value of your opinion.

  13. Jayson Carmichael May 23, 2015 at 8:30 am - Reply

    Folk should think twice afore just goin pro EU ta get at UKIP. EU will be a different propasition once Camerons finished his reforms.

  14. Serge Motee May 23, 2015 at 4:38 pm - Reply

    Meanwhile at the French embassy Rupert Murdoch and Nicola Sturgeon break into a dance .No ‘loss in translation now ‘.

  15. Alphabeard May 23, 2015 at 8:29 pm - Reply

    Given that it’s a headline and not a direct quote you’re peddling nonsense.

    • Mike Sivier May 24, 2015 at 7:19 pm - Reply

      Hmm. Here’s the direct quote: “But asked this week by Newsnight if he would campaign alongside the Chancellor to keep the UK in the EU, he said: ‘I share platforms with everybody except fascists and non-democrats.'”
      Your objection is dismissed.

  16. Richard McHarg May 23, 2015 at 10:16 pm - Reply

    Oh dear! Mair pish from clueless buffoons!

    Stirling Cooncil anyone?

    • Mike Sivier May 23, 2015 at 11:11 pm - Reply

      Woss fink o’ dis, den? Nudder bleed’n spanner can’t speak krek’ly, innit!

      (What do you think of this, then? It’s another person with mental deficiencies who cannot speak their own language.)

      If you really think it’s clever writing in dialect, you really need to grow up.

  17. Gus Rury May 24, 2015 at 10:39 am - Reply

    What a load of tired a**e b*****ks this article is.

    • Mike Sivier May 24, 2015 at 11:49 am - Reply

      I could say the same about your comment.
      You don’t have an answer to it; you don’t have anything to say.

  18. paul May 25, 2015 at 5:51 am - Reply

    More stupidity from the torygraph, are your journalists… Hoop, I forgot that there was no journalists in this paper… Just silly people that give their view!!!

    • Mike Sivier May 25, 2015 at 10:58 am - Reply

      He did say what they’re attributing to him.

  19. Sean McNeil May 28, 2015 at 3:11 pm - Reply

    The SNP are just a fascist dictatorship. The Hitler youth are now the YeSNP mob.

    They will bully anyone, say anything, and spend anything to achieve their separatist utopia.

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