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Tuesday 22 May 2012

When Rupert Met Alex

Wednesday, 29th February 2012

So Rupert Murdoch had lunch with Alex Salmond at Bute House today. At a time when politicians are scurrying to distance themselves from the Dirty Digger he is still welcome in Edinburgh. This annoys, even angers, many of Salmond's own supporters (see Kate Higgins for example) and, I daresay or if Gerry Hassan is a useful indicator, most of the rest of public Scotland too. Anyone but Rupert!

Well, fine. The important thing here is not what Salmond thinks of Murdoch but what Rupert thinks of Alex. Their chumminess is another indicator that Salmond, whatever the SNP's leftwing think or hope, has no intention of turning an independent Scotland into a socialist basketcase. Granted, this has been obvious for some time but it is always useful to have more evidence to support this notion.

I think it possible to argue that Salmond's relationship with Murdoch (like his past relationships with Donald Trump and Fred Goodwin) demonstrates that Salmond is too easily impressed by wealthy businessmen and too quick to get too close to them. This, however, tends to be a characteristic of smaller polities (though it's scarcely unknown in larger ones too) and, perhaps, close to unavoidable. At the very least it is so ordinary that it's close to being unremarkable.

However: we may expect Scottish Labour to seize upon this and use it as a means of attacking Salmond. His closeness to big business, I suspect they'll argue, shows that he's really not that different from the Tories. Alex Salmond, they'll say, is busy prostitutig himself to Rupert Murdoch but doing nothing for hard-pressed Scots, too many of whom are losing their jobs. Why are his priorities so hideously out of touch? Yeah, yeah, whatever.

You may also measure the extent to which the Tories remain leprous by the fact that Labour and the SNP each try to tie the other to the poor old Conservatives. Labour are returning to the good old days, attacking the SNP as Tartan Tories and suggesting any tax cut is some kind of dismal "race to the bottom". For their part, the SNP argue that Labour is as Unionist a party as the Conservatives and the two of them are in cahoots to frustrate Scotia's march to a happier, brawer future. There is, on the big questions, nothing to differentiate them and so Labour might as well be dreadful Tories. Labour are aware of this which is one reason why senior Labour figures are so wary of sharing a platform with David Cameron or any other Conservative. I gather the SNP's polling shows that attacking Labour as being just as bad as the Tories is an effective tactic. There will be more of it.

Nevertheless, Salmond's careful courting of Murdoch (there's some speculation the Sun on Sunday will eventually be out for independence) carries some risk. In the first place there is the Murdoch stigma to deal with but it's also a question of party management. For good reasons, Salmond has been granted great leeway by his members and he has certaily rewarded them richly. Power, it turns out, is worth having and if that requires the occasional compromise then so be it.

However, there must be some on the SNP left who look at how Salmond has softened the edges of independence and are now beginning to wonder: Is this it? Was it really worth all the hassle and hard work to say nothing of the long years filled with defeat after defeat to reach a destination where Scotland is supposedly "independent" yet retains Queen Elizabeth as head of state, remains part of a British currency union and is led by a First Minister keen to cut taxes for corporations and curry favour with plutocrats such as Evil Rupert Murdoch. And, damn it, the First Minister keeps emphasising how little will change after independence. Was this what is was all for?

For the time being these voices are still pretty quiet. Nonetheless, I think we can expect to hear some more grumbling along these lines. And with some justification: Salmond really has moved the party a long way from where it once was. That helped make it electable. But there must be a limit to all this. One wonders how the left would react if - or perhaps when - the SNP keeps Trident on the Clyde, renting facilities to the rest of the UK. This, of course, is a long way from SNP policy but I fancy Trident won't be a red-line issue in any independence negotiations. The SNP will be flexible because there are bigger matters to be resolved.

Anyway: that's one reason why Salmond might want to be cautious about courting Murdoch too openly. Not much has stuck to the First Minister n recent years but he might need to be careful about pushing his luck too far. There are obvious benefits to enjoying a good relationship with Murdoch but it's not by any means a risk free friendship.

Filed under: Newspapers (382 more articles) , Rupert Murdoch (106 more articles) , Salmond (83 more articles) , Scotland (500 more articles)

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andrew kerins

February 29th, 2012 6:39pm Report this comment

'Salmond's careful courting of Murdoch ....carries some risk.' Something of an under-statement. One of the illusions shared by Scotland's chattering classes is that 'we' are not like the English. 'We' do not allow Murdoch and Dacre to tell us what to think. Discovering that Alex Salmond is as keen to hob-nob with Murdoch as Tony Blair was, will make it almost impossible for them to convince themselves that an Independent Scotland will be socialist/social democratic. (Delete according to taste.)

Alex Grant

February 29th, 2012 6:46pm Report this comment

All fair comment Alex and you are right Eck is treading a fine line.Would ignoring Murdoch be a better strategy? Possibly. It depends whether he is making any promises to him. I am an SNP supporter and have always hated the man but if 'Eck keeps him 'onside' withou making any promises then that's fine. Especially if the Sun does not take the BritNat line taken by almost every other part of the media! All I can say is "are voter going to be turned off if the Sun supports Independence?" I doubt it

Jock Mitchell

February 29th, 2012 7:05pm Report this comment

...its a characteristic of "smaller polities" have you been following the US elections Alex.

Tormod

February 29th, 2012 7:45pm Report this comment

As always the reaction will be more of the torn faced moaning that is so popular with the opposition in Scotia.

They had soup and a piece and chatted.

The maximum eck has folk running about like headless chickens he must peeing himself with laughter. So the Sun to come out in favour of Scotia's independence oh jings.

Davey LS

February 29th, 2012 10:18pm Report this comment

The dirty digger has a good record of backing winners, but there will be a price to pay if his papers support independence.

RolftheGanger

February 29th, 2012 11:43pm Report this comment

One of life's minor pleasures, nowadays, is watching Unionist commentators; chewing on a mouthful of sour grapes. Enjoy!

melia

March 1st, 2012 12:52am Report this comment

Oh dear. Delusion or denial? When the lid has come off the stinking pot, our First Minister meets with the chef?

DB

March 1st, 2012 3:50am Report this comment

I'm not sure about there being a 'price to pay' if Rupert Murdoch's papers support the SNP. The Scottish newspaper market is of no great importance for an international media empire.
Perhaps Mr Murdoch simply admires the SNP's effective government and spirit of self-reliance.

Max

March 1st, 2012 7:38am Report this comment

Rupert Murdoch's parents are Scots and being brought in Australia he has not been infested by the Scots Labour Mafia Socialism, inferiority crap. Plus Murdoch is a outsider so he is not part of the Scots tory sooking up to London bunch of creeps.

Colin Cumner

March 1st, 2012 10:10am Report this comment

Those who dance with the devil will inevitably get their feathers singed.

Tom Gallagher

March 1st, 2012 10:33am Report this comment

If Rupert Murdoch can transact agreeable business with socialist-capitalist China, why on earth can't he work out profitable terms with a Salmond-run Scotland? It's clear that those who the Dear Leader sees as quintessential Scots are bucaneering capitalists whose wealth mainly springs from cutting good dals with the state. The party that is likely to control a post-British Scotland will have a dash of left anti-Sassenach rhetoric but will essentially be controlled by these hardfaced merchants. If you think obtaining this kind of corporatism is worth going through the huge upheaval that a partition of this island will require, then you really do deserve to be on Alex's Xmas card list.

Tom Gallagher

March 1st, 2012 11:05am Report this comment

If Rupert Murdoch can do agreeable business with the capitalist commissars in Beijing, then why can't he be transact with Alex Salmond.
The signs are growing that the main beneficiaries from a post-British Scotland will be those local capitalists who thrive because they have preferential links with the state. It's quite likely that the new axis of political power will revovolve around those turbo-capitalists. The left loons will be able to bay the moon their anti-Sassenach and Third worldist refrains but Scotland will be a tight corporatist little world - a kind of pre-1972 Northern Ireland set-up without the sectarianism.
I am sure you will fit in well enough Alex and must already be on the First Minister's Xmas card list.

I S

March 1st, 2012 7:42pm Report this comment

The only thing Gerry Hassan is a useful indicator of is prattishness.

andrew kerins

March 1st, 2012 8:00pm Report this comment

Not for the first time, Alex Salmond has managed to fire up Tom Gallagher's indignation. Personally, I doubt that Scotland figures as highly in Murdoch's plans as China. The scenario produced by Tom Gallagher is a bit confused. Will an independent Scotland have buccaneering capitalism or corporatism ? They are not quite the same. There are Scottish capitalists, who as Tom Gallagher rightly says, exploit close links to the state. They do so because it is a cosy, undemanding world. This is not the world of Rupert Murdoch. As for the old Northern Ireland 'without sectarianism'. What would be left except the Giants' Causeway and rain ?

James

March 1st, 2012 10:19pm Report this comment

Gallagher

'' The left wing loon will be able to bay at the moon.''

He's talking about himself.

Kennybhoy

March 2nd, 2012 6:36pm Report this comment

Alex Massie wrote:

"Is this it? Was it really worth all the hassle and hard work to say nothing of the long years filled with defeat after defeat to reach a destination..."

Colonel Cameron from Douglas Hurd's "Scotch on the Rocks"(1971) springs unbidden to mind! lol

fairforfochen

March 2nd, 2012 9:21pm Report this comment

Maybe it would be a good idea for labour to read this before they jump in with two feet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/02/tony-blair-phone-hacking-police

Tom Gallagher

March 3rd, 2012 7:19am Report this comment

Andrew Kerins (sorry for delay - travelling where internet is unvailable)
I agree that it would be great if Rupert Murdoch woke up and realised that Alex Salmond is not the builder of a more individualist Scotland where effort is rewarded and people have a real say in shaping decisions - but instead a sleekit eejit who essentially wishes to create a democracy lite big state controlled by a clique at the top.
As for Northern Ireland: two facts.
Peter Robinson, the First Minister attended his first GAA match last month and the roof didn't fall in.
The place is too state-dominated but it is settling down to ethnic cohabitation.
Turn to Scotland: a recently published highly detailed survey of SNP memebrs shows that two-thirds wish to abolish the Catholic sector of the school system (the cry of No Popery zealots between the wars and after).
These schools in NI are under NO threat.
I suspect that you might care about this (with a name like Andrew Kerins). NI is sorting itself out - Scotland is heading towards the cliff.

andrew kerins

March 3rd, 2012 8:45pm Report this comment

Tom Gallagher

My comment was about N. Ireland of the Stormont era. It should, therefore have read 'what would have been left.' For brevity, I omitted the dreary steeples.
I don't believe that Scotland is heading towards a cliff. I am pessimistic about this country but it is not that bad. N. Ireland 'sorting itself out' is at the other end of the continuum; too optimistic. There are improvements but most of it remains a rigidly divided society.
I have no doubt that there are plenty of SNP voters hostile to Catholicism. Again, you will find many similar people in the Labour Party. There, you have the Sam Campbell tendency, on the wane, and the Dawkins tendency, aggressively on the rise.
As for AS, think of him as another Tony Blair. After a while, we'll all get tired of him.

Derick fae Yell

March 5th, 2012 8:04pm Report this comment

After a while we will indeed tire of Alex. Once the job in hand is done.
And what the hell is Tom on about?? jeez speak about a straw man. or is it a wicker man? Hey ho...!

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