Fancy some lunch?

That Glasgow Central is within reach of the SNP at this General Election has been devastatingly demonstrated this week.

The party is throwing itself behind this campaign and the public are responding. As has been widely reported, there was a fundraiser for the Glasgow Central campaign held this week which was packed out and raised much needed funds given we're up against multi-millionaire opponents.

The event sent shockwaves through the Labour ranks. The natural order of things was troubled. It is Labour who are meant to organise big dinners with the Asian community. There was a layer of people there hungry for change and willing to put the time and money into making it happen. They weren't the usual "community leaders" and chuntering classes.

The news coverage came from Labour's feeling of "How dare the SNP come onto our patch and raise sums of money too"! They even demanded to know whether diners knew they were donating to the SNP. Our donors have been phoned by the Sarwar family with demands to know why they are supporting us. Politics is rarely simple in the Asian community, typified by how the owners of the restaurant where the dinner was held, the Kabana, made a video of the event which is the one that was leaked to the media.

In the ensuing press coverage it has been hard to assess what the issue is. In the small print, issue has been made about food being consumed at the Scottish Parliament. Clarification has been sought from the authorities, and it has been made clear that the lunches can move elsewhere. Donors were not hung up on the Scottish Parliament aspect of it, and in fact were possibly even going to be put out having to go to Edinburgh.

We've then got the 'cash for access' aspect which apart from on the headlines, only a few have tentatively put forward because of the absurdity and hypocrisy of it. The donors/auction winners didn't need to win the auction to make whatever points they may or may not have. They were sitting a few yards away from Alex Salmond all evening. We're also talking about the most accessible First Minister we've had. I know all sorts of people, often of no real substance, who have successfully held meetings with him and Nicola Sturgeon just because they requested it. Some have tried to deride the comparison the SNP have made with charity auctions, but the principle is the same if you see it as 'cash for access'.

This takes us back to two points here - the first is that the opposition don't like the SNP raising money. And those donating to the campaign were an indication of the desire for change in Glasgow Central, and no amount of shenanigans of the type we've seen over the last few days from Labour is going to change that - in fact it's likely to harden it.

Comments

[MekQuarrie]

Some of my frustration here is that the Scottish Opposition (long may they remain so) shift so fleetingly from one phrase to another. 'Cash for Access' is slapped on the header, then slips down a grade to 'access to the parliamentary facilities', then slithers down again to 'a pie in the canteen with everyone listening'. But this is part of a general 'total-politics' pre-election malaise. When this 'story' fades, a new pretext will be found to pummel the SNP, possibly relating to purchase of wallpaper or (more hopefully) paint drying...

[joe90 kane]

One from the archives -
- look at how many Scottish Westminster MPs voted in favour of keeping their affairs secret from the prying eyes of the public.
Obvioulsy, they'd nothing to hide except perhaps trivia such as their claims for expenses; no evidence of Iraq WMD; no legal basis for attacking Iraq; and that sort of thing -

Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill — Third Reading — 18 May 2007 at 13:46
The Public Whip
http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2007-05-18&number=123&display=allpossible

Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill
wikpedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_%28Amendment%29_Bill

Parliament should not exempt itself from the Freedom of Information Act!
The Campaign for Freedom of Information
http://www.cfoi.org.uk/macleanbill.html

all the best OS

[Rowantree]

You are soo right Osaama. I was at the event, I made no donation and was able to approach the First Minister (as I have already done many a time to the Deputy First Minister)and engage with him on a particular issue. He gave freely of his time, was genuinley interested and concerned about the issue raised and indicated that he would want to hear more about it. He advised me to contact him again through his assistant which of course I will do. If I had had the opportunity of lunch with him I doubt if I would have been able or indeed wanted to achieve any more than I did that night. You do not need money to access Alex or Nicola they are openly and easily accessible to anyone who approaches them appropriately which is more than can be said about many other party's MP's and MSP'S

[Alec]

No, there's quite enough disgust from non-Labour suppoorters.

It's down to a sense of basic integrity.