 | 'The appearance of Tony Blair's picture at the press of a mouse-button hardly supported the view that this was a covert SNP exercise.' Robbie Dinwoodie, Scottish Political Correspondent in the Herald. |  |
| 'The appearance of Tony Blair's picture at the press of a mouse-button hardly supported the view that this was a covert SNP exercise.' Robbie Dinwoodie, Scottish Political Correspondent in the Herald. | |
Surfing Contest as SNP rides out Labour challenge
Labour's bronzed beachboy Jack McConnell called a news conference to highlight a supposed SNP gaffe, in which anyone surfing the Internet could find through the Nationalists' main web site a seemingly pessimistic prediction about their fortunes in some key marginals at the next General Election.
However, waxing his board at home in the telecommuting nirvana that is Tighnabruaich, the captain of the SNP's surfing team, Michael Russell, scorned his rival, pointing out that the academic analysis which Labour had picked on was actually nothing to do with his party.
At issue was the work of an exiled Scots academic, Dr Iain Old, who enters the Internet from France and builds a dossier of election statistics and predictions.
Labour held a news conference to point out that his work showed three seats - Kilmarnock & Loudoun, Tweedale, Ettrick & Lauderdale, and Airdrie & Shotts - as being ones in which the SNP would not challenge, in spite of local claims.
The wording was careful but the impression was clear - Labour believed this was an analysis by the SNP hierarchy which would anger and annoy local activists.
'This is an astonishing own goal from the SNP,' said general secretary Mr McConnell. 'Their local candidates will be shattered.'
Not so, said Kilmarnock candidate and SNP vice-convenor Alex Neil, who was relaxed about the prediction and confidently predicted that it came from no one who had visited the constituency. In this he was right.
Dr Old works from France and had not yet responded to an e-mail message from The Herald last night.
However, anyone logging into his own web site is invited to pursue more information, including the Labour Party manifesto. The appearance of Tony Blair's picture at the press of a mouse-button hardly supported the view that this was a covert SNP exercise.
Mr Russell, the SNP chief executive, said that the web was precisely that, a network of interconnections that helped people pursue an area of interest, which was why their own web-site included ways of accessing other political parties and Government information as well as independent academic analysis such as that from Dr Old.
'What are Labour suggesting?' he said. 'We were commended by the Financial Times last year for having the best web site of any political party on the strength of its connectivity.
'It's like a library, and we don't stop people browsing, but Dr Old does not speak for the SNP and has no connection with the party. What Mr McConnell is saying is akin to book burning.'
Political rival Andy Myles of the Scottish Liberal Democrats confirmed that view, saying that its so-called 'netiquette' urged contributors to open up connections to other information, even that which they did not agree with. 'On the web, interconnection does not imply endorsement,' he said.
Mr McConnell clung to his argument last night, claiming that if the SNP did not agree with information on its web site it should issue a disclaimer. 'They cannot hide their embarrassment concerning the content of this, but can only throw personal abuse at individuals within the Labour Party,' he said
The SNP would win 11, eight up on last time, the Liberal Democrats would win the same number, nine, and the Tories would lose 10 seats to leave them with just one.
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