LABOUR CANDIDATE'S DEAFENING SILENCE ON ROYAL SECURITY LEAK

LABOUR CANDIDATE'S DEAFENING SILENCE ON ROYAL SECURITY LEAK

AFTER ALMOST SIX DAYS SILENCE STILL NO DENIAL

The SNP candidate for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Cllr Graeme Horne, says it is now imperative that the Labour candidate, Tom Greatrex, “confirm or deny” that he was the person who leaked correspondence in January between the Home Office and the Scottish Government regarding the designation of footpaths in the Cairngorm National Park Authority.

Mr Greatrex was a Special Adviser to Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy at the time, and the Scottish Sun newspaper reported last week that: “Whitehall sources outed Tom Greatrex – now standing as Labour candidate in Rutherglen, Glasgow – as the mole after a three-month probe by the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell.”

The Scottish Sun report followed a Parliamentary Answer published on Monday by Scottish Government External Affairs Minister Fiona Hyslop which said that it had been, “established conclusively that the source was not a Scottish Government civil servant”.

Despite appearing at a hustings last Thursday, he managed to avoid the subject and the meeting was brought to an end before a member of the audience could question Mr Greatrex.

The local paper - the Rutherglen Reformer - has also reported that they have tried repeatedly to contact Mr Greatrex to speak to him but his phone was switched off, and his election agent Richard Tullet has also failed to return their calls.

Commenting, Cllr Horne said:

“This is now becoming an extremely serious issue on what relates to a matter of royal security - and the deafening silence from the Labour candidate only raises suspicions. That he cannot respond to newspaper inquiries compounds that suspicion.

"We are only three days from the election and Mr Greatrex has had six days to confirm or deny the report that he leaked this correspondence. If he did, Labour have no choice but to suspend him as a parliamentary candidate.

"Last week's hustings gave him the opportunity to clear the air and establish his position - he ducked that opportunity.

“A Home Office Minister, quite rightly, made the point that the police wished as little attention as possible for the paths, and we now have it reported that it was a Special Adviser to Jim Murphy and a Labour Party candidate in Scotland who was responsible for this disgraceful leak.

“This matter is straightforward but urgent. If Tom Greatrex was not responsible, he must deny it. If he was, he must be removed as the Labour Party candidate in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.”