ARMS TRADE PROFITEER AND INSTIGATOR OF THE HOUNDING OF CHARLES KENNEDY CONDEMNS LABOUR ATTACK AD

There is a special place in political purgatory for hypocrisy on the scale of Ian Blackford, member for Skye, Ross and Lochaber.

Ian Blackford has condemned the Labour attack ads on Rishi Sunak, condemning Labour for pursuing the “lowest common denominator”. The former SNP Westminster leader, in conversation with Alexander Brown of The Scotsman, warned political parties to be “careful” of how they campaigned.

Personally, I cannot help but note there is a special place in political purgatory for hypocrisy on this scale. Just to be clear, my point going forward will not be to offer up any defence of the Labour attack ads, for there can and should be none. My goal is to take issue with Ian Blackford of all people being the man to be making these comments.

The member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber really should know better than to sermonise about probity, ethics and decency in public life. Not least since this is the man who has stood up to condemn the UK arms trade with Saudi Arabia while at the same time indirectly personally benefiting from it.

In 2019 Mr Blackford was Chairman of the Golden Charter Trust, a funeral plan provider that benefited from companies believed to have sold arms to Saudi Arabia. This was at a time when the SNP had been - publicly - chief critics of the UK’s role in selling arms to Saudi Arabia; due to the brutal Saudi bombing of Yemen.

Golden Charter Trust, which at the time paid the ‘humble crofter’ £3,100 a month for eight hours work per quarter, also had a large collective investment in the Artisan Global Equity fund. That fund made its money from investing in defence companies including Harris Corporation and Raytheon. Harris and Raytheon both being involved in profiting from arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which in turn had been (still is using) its arsenal to wage its proxy-war with Iran in poor, bloodied Yemen.

Ian Blackford at the time never considered either divesting from these companies, or better still, resigning his chairmanship of Golden Charter. Nevertheless he still stood up in the House of Commons to condemn the UK Government for profiteering from the arms trade with the Saudi regime.

There is a word for this, hypocrisy. You would think someone guilty of this sort of personal ethical failure would be more circumspect about calling out the probity of others in politics. But you would be wrong.

Yet the real hypocrisy is when Ian Blackford of all people is condemning the political campaign strategies of others. Let nobody ever forget this is the man who was instigator of the hounding of Charles Kennedy.

Let me quote extensively from the Spectator article by Brian Wilson from 2021:

“Three weeks before his death and after 32 years as MP for a Highland constituency – latterly called Ross, Cromarty and Skye – he was defeated in the 2015 General Election by Ian Blackford, now Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party and a man rich in hyperbole, bombast and bluster.

No politician could be more different in style and substance from Charles Kennedy – a man of courtesies and humour with a sharp political edge; a skilled debater who believed in the power of argument, who was respected by his political friends and most foes, which was reflected in the programme’s title: Charles Kennedy: A Good Man Speaking.

In its latter stages, the documentary described the vile campaign Charles was subjected to in the weeks before his death. Rather oddly, there was no direct reference to the instigator, Ian Blackford. When questioned about this, BBC Alba said that the programme was about Charles Kennedy, not Ian Blackford. That is a fair point. To have over-emphasised the repellent features of the 2015 election campaign in Ross, Cromarty and Skye might have detracted from the programme’s laudable objectives; to give a rounded view of Charles’s life, his background, his strengths, his flaws.”

Let me be clear, for as long as Ian Blackford occupies a place on the political stage of the nation I do not believe his role should ever be forgotten or forgiven. The General Election campaign that would prove to be Mr Kennedy’s last was characterised by its cruelty, nastiness and brutality.

For being a Liberal Democrat at a time when some of his colleagues (not at any point Mr Kennedy) were in government in the Clegg-Cameron coalition, he was singled out harshly. The former merchant banker Ian Blackford, freshly having reinvented himself as some sort of crofting man of the highland rural glens launched the ‘Where’s Charlie?’ slogan.

To be clear it was a blatant attempt to personalise the contest on grounds which were always undesirable and unnecessary. That Blackford knew of Charles Kennedy’s fragility was obvious, but he just didn’t care. Mr Kennedy was fighting an election he reckoned he would lose, while simultaneously coping with with a string of tragedies and losses. He was mourning the dead of his beloved parents, the passing of a dear friend and struggling to keep his family together whilst facing off against alcoholism.

Blackford never relented. The humble crofter’s rottweiler and closest associate Brian Smith, convener of the SNP’s Skye branch at the time, wondered online if Charles, ‘has “a problem” that stops you going to Westminster?’ Everyone knew the string of personal tragedies being referenced and mocked publicly.

Up to election day, Smith insisted on hounding the fragile Charles Kennedy’s social media sites with abuse, describing him as ‘our own arch-Quisling’.

“One of Charles’s constituency staff had to work full-time on deleting social media abuse. There were vile anonymous messages attached to Charles’s car and pushed through his letter-box. When he returned home after the confirmation of his defeat, the bins had been emptied across his driveway. The level of sheer cruelty was beyond comprehension – and all totally unnecessary in terms of the election’s outcome.”

Charles Kennedy lost his seat to Ian Blackford March 30 2015. He passed away June 1 2015, due to a major haemorrhage linked to his alcoholism.

Given the role instigating the hounding of Mr Kennedy under these circumstances Ian Blackford would never dare have the temerity of lecture others of the importance of being mindful of how you campaign. But you’d be wrong. Mr Blackford is nothing if not a hypocrite with all the moral probity of the gutter.

Let Labour rethink its grotty attack ads on the Prime Minister, but let nobody take the lesson from Blackford. He has not a single leg to stand on.

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