Difficulty with the Truth
Yesterday saw Wendy Alexander’s first outing as Labour leader against SNP leader Alex Salmond at First Minister’s Questions (FMQs). She started steadily but faltered when Salmond actually answered her question. The problem for Alexander was that it wasn`t the answer she was hoping for. At the time she looked just a bit lost but in retrospect her first FMQs looks like a bit of a farce.
The basic premise of her FMQ was that the SNP government was going to review the central heating programme and introduce means-testing. What was this assertion based on? Well, she claimed that Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell had said that to the convener of the local government and communities, Duncan McNeil.
Alex Salmond said yes there was to be a review as the SNP government hoped to improve the programme and it would be important to understand all the aspects of the programme operation in order to improve – hence the review. The programme is a good one, but far from perfect.
Alexander kept hammering the point despite the answer. Naturally people started looking out what Stewart Maxwell had said to the committee. He was asked by Duncan McNeil “Are you suggesting 
that the free central heating programme might be means tested in future?” Maxwell answered “No, I am not suggesting that”. Which in my book was fairly categoric.
So the premise of Alexander’s first FMQ was a false one. After FMQs rumours have begun to circulate of Alexander shouting the odds in the Labour research unit – directly in the firing line was one Labour MSP who conducted the ‘research’ for the FMQ who was given a verbal bashing from one of his colleagues.
Not spotted in the Labour research unit though was new Head of Press Brian Lironi. An experienced journalist he might have wanted more rigorous checking on the truth of the ‘means testing’ story. I haven`t spotted Lironi in the parliament since the stories at the weekend which saw him attacked by Labour MSP George Foulkes. Perhaps he’s just off ill – sick of the sight of Foulkes in the papers!
2 viewpoints:
Brian Lironi has been off work all week. Given that he's been in post for less than a month, and that this week was a crucial one to his new boss, it must have been something serious. Which would rule out a Foulkes-related illness then......
I watched the webcast the other night - she was pretty poor, even by their standards.
It's interesting about the Central Heating Programme though. I did a fair bit of work trying to deal with the effects of a programme that leaves pensioners without heating and hot water for months at a time through the winter. It just wasn't up to scratch, and couldn't deal with emergencies. It took ages between someone applying and an assessor coming to see what needed done. Any review that improves the process is a good thing.
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