Iain Duncan Smith may have lost his job, but he has found a new whisky. It’s called Monkey Shoulder, and they became acquainted when he went to lie low in the Highlands after his resignation. When he went to buy a new bottle from Robertsons of Pitlochry he was told he’d have to wait a few days.
‘I told them not to worry, that I had more time on my hands. The man behind me said: “Yes, we know all about that — you were the talk of the town here for days.”’ It’s an example, he says, of how his resignation struck a far deeper chord than he imagined it would.
‘It has been very odd,’ he says. ‘There’s a huge number of letters and emails piling in, saying “thank you”. Scot Nats, Labour people — not chain letters, handwritten ones. It’s been a bit surprising.’ He says he never sought to pose as an anti-cuts martyr — which would, anyway, be unconvincing from the bedroom-tax author who cut welfare more than any of his predecessors.
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