ALISTER Jack has been left red-faced after he was caught breaking strict ministerial guidelines to lavish praise on Jackson Carlaw.
In an article posted on the Scotland Office’s website, the Tory minister insisted that Scotland must leave the coronavirus lockdown in “lockstep” with the rest of the UK.
Jack criticised the SNP administration and lavished praise on the Scottish Tory leader, writing: "Even now – after a U-turn forced by an outcry among businesspeople and pressure led by Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw – levels of support for the hard-hit retail, hospitality and leisure sector falls well short of what’s on offer in England."
The column - which originally appeared in the Daily Mail - was endorsed by several Tory colleagues, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, who praised “Alister ‘Union’ Jack”.
But the readership of the Daily Mail was clearly not enough for the Tory frontbencher, with the article being copied and pasted on to the gov.uk website, presumably by one of his civil servants.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon blasts back at Alister Jack over 'lockstep' claim
The Civil Service code says clearly that they must not "act in a way that is determined by party political considerations, or use official resources for party political purposes".
While the UK ministerial code says that "Ministers must not use government resources for Party political purposes" and "Ministers must uphold the political impartiality of the Civil Service and not ask civil servants to act in any way which would conflict with the Civil Service Code".
The UK government's own communications guidance - which is referred to in the ministerial code, says that government communications should “not be – and not liable to being misrepresented as – party political”
The article was edited after The National approached the Scotland Office for a comment.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “An unredacted version of the Secretary of State’s Scottish Daily Mail article was posted in error on gov.uk. This has now been amended.”
An SNP spokesperson said:"This is an embarrassing mistake by Alister Jack.
"Using government resources for party political purposes is strictly against the ministerial code, and is totally inappropriate in the context of fighting a global pandemic."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel