The inconvenient truths

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dr Alasdair Allan"

To:
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 9:51 AM
Subject: Daily Mail

Dear SNP Member

If you are being asked about the reprehensible articles on the front of Saturday's Daily Mail and Scotsman, you might want to be armed with the following facts:

(Along with 14 other MSPs I am accused by these papers of disgracing the memory of our war dead by laying a wreath which had been paid for by the Parliament rather than by me personally).

- I regard it as a great honour to lay a wreath on behalf of the Parliament in remembrance of those from the islands and beyond who have given their lives in war.

Indeed it is, so why spend only a miserly £17.40 on this 'great honour'?

- The wreath which I laid in Benbecula last year was on behalf not of me, but of the Parliament. Just as Councils up and down the country pay for wreaths, the Parliament provided the wreath and made a donation to Poppy Scotland.

If the Parliament provided it, then why was it claimed on your expenses? Have you made other claims for items provided by the Parliament? I note the difference between councils paying and Parliament providing. Yes it provided, becasue you claimed it on your expenses.

- I was astounded at the way this was covered in the Mail, and made clear that there was certainly nothing amiss that needed to be paid back to Parliament.

Not according to Alex Salmond who thought it very remiss....

- I also made clear that I was a member of the Legion Club in Benbecula, and very happy to support their work.

...but not out of my own pocket

- I have also made a personal donation to Poppy Scotland for the cost of the wreath, meaning it has now effectively been paid for twice.

...when I should have paid for it myself in the first place.

None of that bit was printed.

I have not, despite the headline, claimed for the poppy I wear, nor would I be eligible to, nor would I try to.

How virtuous and self-sacrificing is that! The point is that you claimed what you thought you could get away with.

The sad thing about distorted stories like this, from papers who feel left out after the Telegraph uncovered the actual scandals, is that it obscures those scandals and lets people off the hook.

....Whilst I really enjoyed the stories up to now (except for the Toblerone, obviously), now I have been caught the stories are reprehensible.

If anyone raises this issue with you, I am happy to contact them to set the record straight.

Waiting for the call.....

Best wishes

Alasdair Allan

Thanks to ABM for forwarding the email :-)