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Angus Struan Carolus Robertson

Englishman Angus was born in Wimbledon, London, in 1969. Educated at Broughton High School, Edinburgh, he completed his education at the University of Aberdeen, from where he graduated in 1991 with an MA Honours degree in politics and international relations.

After university, he embarked on a career with the BBC World Service as a foreign and diplomatic correspondent in Central Europe .

Political Career

Robertson was first elected to the UK House of Commons in June 2001, representing the Moray constituency.

He was a member of the European Scrutiny Committee from 2001 to 2010 and served as the SNP’s spokesman on Defence and International Relations.

In May 2007, he became SNP Leader in the House of Commons.

Following the 2015 general election and the election of ex Party leader, Alex Salmond as MP for Gordon it was confirmed he would continue in his role as leader of the SNP in the Commons.

He was appointed to the Privy Council in 2015 and joined the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.

Ahead of the 2015 General Election, he had the SNP pass a controversial code of conduct that stated any MP must, “accept that no member shall within or out with the parliament publicly criticise a group decision, policy or another member of the group”. Rival parties labelled it a “Stalinist” crackdown on free speech and independent thought.

In a surprise reversal of fortune in the 2016 General election he lost his Westminster seat.

He was elected Deputy Leader of the SNP in October 2016, but resigned from the post in February 2018 and established a pro-independence think-tank, Progress Scotland.

In February 2020, he announced his intention to contest the Edinburgh Central constituency in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. He won the seat and was appointed Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Summary:

His 16 years at an MP at Westminster provided Angus with a privileged and financially well rewarded pensionable lifestyle. In return he graced by his presence a number of influential Unionist dominated House of Commons committees.

2014: Robertson misses the Bedroom Tax vote

Robertson and three of his SNP colleagues missed a crucial vote on repealing the bedroom tax, despite the SNP announcing its opposition to the policy. Labour made capital from the blunder stating: “Far from standing up for Scotland, the SNP stayed at home and let Scotland down.” Not his finest moment.

Feb 2017: SNP Westminster leader Robertson dragged into a political lobbying row

The row raised questions about transparency and cronyism, after his wife Jennifer’s new PR company boasted it had “one of the best little black books in Scotland”.

The claim was made by Elgin-based communications firm Spey, which was set up by Robertson’s wife and former SNP councillor Alex MacLeod.

On the Inverness Chamber of Commerce website, Spey was described as a “progressive full-service communications agency”, adding: “Spey prides itself on having one of the best little black books in Scotland.”

Spey was the trading name of Baxter-Robertson of Speyside Ltd.

Jennifer, and MacLeod, were registered as 50-50 partners in the company, which was incorporated in September 2017.

MacLeod became a councillor in Caithness at 19 but later pled guilty to charges related to election expenses, after spending triple the campaign limit. He resigned from the SNP and was sentenced to 160 hours of community service.

Feb 2017: How the Israel lobby influences British politics

A now disgraced senior diplomat at the Israeli embassy in London spent several hours courting the Scottish National Party’s deputy leader ahead of his official trip to Israel, raising further questions over Israel’s interference in British politics.

In undercover footage recorded as part of Al Jazeera’s investigation “The Lobby”, Shai Masot, a senior political officer at the embassy who was forced to quit after the film exposed his attempts to manipulate British politics is seen boasting of his relationship with Angus Robertson to an undercover reporter “Robin Harrow” (alias).

Maria Strizzolo, a British civil servant was with Masot when he said to Robin “I spent many hours with Angus. I think nine hours in total, sitting around inside the embassy. We had a lot of meetings and he told us many stories. He feels really close to the Jewish people and he has a great trip to Israel lined up”.

Over dinner at a Kensington brasserie, Masot recounted a story told to him by Robertson about his German grandfather who was a politician in the Reichstag and was persecuted by the Nazis. Following his arrest, his grandfather’s birth certificate was changed identifying him as Jewish making him de facto an enemy of the state.

Masot went on to relate another Robertson story from Scotland’s history of a 14th-century manuscript that laid claim to the Scottish nation by declaring that the Scots were in fact one of the lost tribes of Israel. “Mmm … I love Angus,” Masot stated, apparently keen to let his companions know that Robertson was someone Israel could work with at a political level.

Strizzolo, an activist with the Conservative Friends of Israel parliamentary group, was also won over by Robertson. “I actually really like him,” she said. Full story and video here:(https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/2/14/shai-masot-courted-snps-angus-robertson-ahead-of-trip)

May 2017: Robertson breaks his promise to donate London house sale profit to charity

The SNP deputy chief, faced calls to return any profit to the public purse or to donate it to good causes as he originally pledged.

He bought a “small” flat in the London Borough of Lambeth in February 2006 for £227,500 and designated it as his second home under the former rules for MPs’ expenses and went on to claim almost £60,000 in mortgage interest, £4,000 in stamp duty and legal fees and around £16,000 for repairs and furnishings, including a £2,300 leather sofa bed, a £400 home cinema, an espresso maker, Sabatier knives and a £20 corkscrew.

When the expenses scandal broke in 2009, he was embarrassed by the revelations and responded by telling the Northern Scot newspaper in May 2009. “I will not personally profit from capital gains accrued while mortgage interest was paid for with taxpayers’ money. The public purse will be reimbursed through full capital gains tax payments, with any remaining capital gains returned to the parliamentary authorities or to good causes in my constituency.” with an undertaking to repay any profit he made from the sale of the flat.

In December 2013, the property was sold for £309,950, leaving Robertson with a gain of £82,450. After paying capital gains tax of approximately £17,000, he would have been left with a net profit of more than £60,000.

A spokesman for Robertson appeared to suggest the profit from the sale of the flat had been swallowed up by the costs of his divorce from his first wife, Carron. Last year he married Alex Salmond’s former aide Jennifer Dempsie, whose own career in politics was derailed by the row over a Scottish Government grant to the T In The Park music festival.

2019: Edinburgh Central Controversy

Ahead of the selection contest for the seat of Edinburgh Central, the SNP National Executive Committee announced that any MP chosen as a candidate for Holyrood would be obliged to resign from Westminster ahead of the election to the Scottish Parliament.

Some considered the rule change a deliberate “stitch-up” by Nicola Sturgeon to stop MP Joanna Cherry, a critic of the party leadership, from winning the party’s nomination for the seat and to boost Robertson’s candidacy. Cherry dropped out of the contest, citing an unwillingness to make her staff unemployed and Robertson won the party’s nomination and the seat.

2020: A Scottish Parliamentary inquiry

The inquiry was set up to: “To consider and report on the actions of the First Minister, Scottish Government officials and special advisers in dealing with complaints about Alex Salmond, former First Minister, considered under the Scottish Government’s “Handling of harassment complaints involving current or former ministers and procedure and actions in relation to the Scottish Ministerial Code.”

SNP inquiry convener Linda Fabiani wrote to Angus Robertson and said MSPs wanted to know:

“Whether, in your capacity as leader of the SNP group in the House of Commons, you had any interactions/ communications with the First Minister, Scottish Government officials or special advisers regarding any allegations or formal complaints against Alex Salmond about sexual harassment ?”

But there was no mention in the remit of SNP meetings or involvement of Westminster based SNP MP’s. She was out of line.

How “knowledge of allegations or formal complaints about sexual harassment against the former First Minister was shared within senior figures in the party of Government to inform its consideration of the Scottish Government’s handling of complaints”.

This request had absolutely no relevance to the unsubstantiated allegations made by two civil servants which was the matter the committee were remitted to investigate and report on.

“Is there any other information relevant to the committee’s remit of considering the Scottish Government’s handling of complaints about Mr Salmond?”

Weird one this!! A judge had already ruled that the Scottish Government’s handling of complaints against Alex Salmond had been tainted with prejudice and illegal. Anything offered up to the committee by Robertson would be irrelevant.

Robertson, an ally of Sturgeon who had steamrollered him into position to stand for Holyrood in the Edinburgh Central seat the next year told the committee he did not possess any information relevant to its remit. A fitting end to the response but!!!!! he continued:

Now you ask there was an incident: “In 2009 I was called by an Edinburgh Airport manager about Alex Salmond’s perceived ‘inappropriateness’ towards female staff at the airport. I was asked if I could informally broach the subject with Mr Salmond to make him aware of this perception. “I raised the matter directly with Mr Salmond, who denied he had acted inappropriately in any way. I communicated back to the Edinburgh Airport manager that a conversation had happened. The matter was resolved, and without a formal complaint having been made, it was not reported further.” A dart laden with poison!!!

20th Sep 2020: Angus Robertson slated for saying elderly deaths are a ‘gain’ for independence

Robertson said: “55,000 predominantly No supporting voters [were] passing away every year” ad when combined with more “Yes” supporting young people reaching voting age, that had produced a “gain of over 100,000 for independence” since the referendum of 2014. Critics said the comments were “disgraceful” given the recent loss of thousands of old people from coronavirus and the emergence of a potentially lethal winter surge. In response, Robertson called the criticism “politically motivated” and “manufactured outrage”.

Sep 2021: Robertson told to get on with the day job

Mike Russell, SNP President attacked Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture MSP for failing to concentrate on his day job after he plugged his new book online.

The spat came after Robertson took to Twitter to promote his new book, “Vienna The International Capital”. In a now-deleted response, Russell who previously held Robertson’s Cabinet position said: “Hmm – might be a breach of MSP code too. And legitimate for people to ask what he is doing in the day job”. Records show Robertson has contributed to just four parliamentary debates since being elected in May, including his oath of affirmation. The confrontation will be uncomfortable for Sturgeon, who is already under pressure from within her party over a lack of progress on an independence referendum.

An insider said: “Robertson entered Holyrood with the trumpets sounding and was feted as possessing the personality and acumen to push Westminster for a second referendum which is why he got the job.

But he has been virtually anonymous since his appointment and a group of MSP’s and party members are irate that he appears to be concentrating his time on his latest book rather than promoting independence. It is a public spat that didn’t occur previously within the Party and is indicative of a breakdown in discipline and increasing discontent over the lack of desire to push for independence. It will also encourage members to jump ship to Alex Salmond’s Alba.

Oct 2021: Angus Robertson cancels book promo at event paid for by his department

Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture cancelled his appearance at a literary festival funded by the Scottish government department he runs, after the press enquired about the prime speaking spot to promote his book “Vienna The International Capital”

The festival was awarded £30,000 in August from Creative Scotland a government-funded and accountable body falling under Robertson’s brief. He has now cancelled the lecture together with an advert describing the book, which costs £25 as a “beautifully written, rich and extraordinary story”.

Lib Dem culture spokesman Joe McCauley said: “At the same time as the SNP takes a scythe to cultural centres in Glasgow, the Culture Secretary is trying to plug his book at a taxpayer-funded literary event. Sadly, anyone who can’t afford the £25 recommended retail price will be out of luck because his council colleagues want to close the libraries too. Scottish arts and culture ought to be for everyone.”

Scottish Conservative Shadow ­Culture Secretary Donald Cameron added: “Angus Robertson should be focused on our recovery from the pandemic rather than promoting his own book. While everyone wishes the Borders Book Festival to be a major success, eyebrows will be raised over the fact that the Culture Secretary was given a slot at an event that was awarded a funding boost by an agency overseen by the Scottish Government just a few months ago.”

Scottish Labour culture ­spokeswoman Sarah Boyack MSP said: “It’s hard to believe patrons of the Borders Book Festival were ever banging down the door to hear from Angus about his book.”

A Creative Scotland spokeswoman admitted the festival received funding. She said: “Borders Book Festival received £30,000 National Lottery funding through Creative Scotland’s Open Fund.

17 Jan 2022: Angus Robertson defends the BBC

He praised the corporation writing: “Its journalists are free to hold decision-makers to account and programme-makers produce varied output which would often not be found from the commercial competition. Usually, public service broadcasters get it in the neck from people on all sides at some stage, but usually, they get the balance about right.”

Comment: This from an SNP activist!!!!

Robertson champions Nathan Starling (alter ego Nancy Clench)

Scotland, once neck-deep in whisky and machismo, a party that once supported anti-gay campaigner and businessman Brian Souter is now a leader, socially and politically, in LGBTO rights. with the largest proportion of LGBTQ parliamentarians in the world.

(https://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/meet-the-worlds-only-political-adviser-who-is-also-a-drag-queen)

The SNP government’s agenda for change

Nicola Sturgeon and her small group of advisors are to be commended for their honesty in declaring to the Scottish public their full support of the agenda of the LGBTQ movement.

The mission of the SNP government will, when complete, turn Scottish society on its head so that it becomes fully integrated and modelled on the thinking of the LGBTQ movement.

But a successful outcome can only be achieved if the public are fully informed and are agreed upon the nature of changes and any implications attaching to them

In the event the electorate is denied a voice there will be unhappiness and strife and it is crucial that our political leaders give precedence to needs of the many and consideration to the needs of the few.

In pursuance of this the breakdown of the electorate in Scotland is: Heterosexual: 95%. LGBTQ/WOKE: 5% (0.5% of this group are transgender).

Political representation

Implementation of the LGBTQ agenda needs to bring with it full transparency in public life and it should be a legal obligation for any person seeking public office to declare their sexuality so the electorate are fully informed before committing to their choice of candidate.

SNP representation at Westminster

Approx. 30% of SNP MP’s are LGBTQ/WOKE.

Approx. 5% of the Scottish electorate are LGBTQ.

Of this group just under 0.5% claim to be transgender. The imbalance is exceptional!!

Nearly all of the MP’s in the SNP Westminster Leaders’ Shadow Cabinet identify as LGBTQ.

The SNP are not the official opposition at Westminster and the appointment of a Shadow Cabinet is at odds with the stated aims of the Party which pledged to the Scottish public it would never take up such a role in the House of Commons.

The question of payment also raises its head. Shadow ministers are not normally remunerated for the duties additional to their MP commitments. But I am informed the the SNP group are provided with payments using £1.5m short money allocated to the party which if true would be a misuse of the finance and a motive explaining the methodology behind the group’s reluctance to fight for an independent Scotland.

The Westminster SNP group

Stuart McDonald: Shadow Home Secretary. Openly LGBTQ.
Stewart McDonald: Shadow Defence Secretary. Openly LGBTQ.
John Nicolson: Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Openly LGBTQ.
Alyn Smith: Shadow Foreign Secretary. Openly LGBTQ.
Martin Docherty-Hughes: Shadow Industries Future/Blockchain Spokesperson. Openly LGBTQ.
Joanna Cherry: Openly LGBTQ.
Angela Crawley: Shadow Attorney General. Openly LGBTQ.
Hannah Bardell: Foreign Affairs Team. Openly LGBTQ.
Mhairi Black: Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. Openly LGBTQ.

Patrick Grady: Chief Whip? LGBTQ
See: https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/sturgeon-patrick-grady (Alex Salmond warned Nicola Sturgeon, in 2018 about sexual harassment allegations against Grady
See: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/10/snp-chief-whip-steps-down-sexual-harassment-complaint-patrick-grady
See: https://www.thenational.scot/news/19735532.former-snp-chief-whip-patrick-grady-mp-stands-partys-internal-contests/
See: https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/patrick-grady-sexual-misconduct-complaints-25584477

Comment: Parallels to be drawn with the Alex Salmond vendetta. A rush to investigate and judge a man no longer in politics. Needs to be compared against the failure to investigate similar claims against Grady who remained at work, for years after. So “me too” applied only where it suited the SNP leadership. And Sturgeon’s team gave the finger of fate to the electorate and by appointing him to high office within the Party only months after he was forced to resign.

Kirsty Blackman: Economy Team. LGBTQ/WOKE
See: https://inews.co.uk/news/scotland/joanna-cherry-accuses-snp-colleagues-spreading-lies-smears-854700

See: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scottish-mail-on-sunday/20211024/281943136087418:

This is Jonny Kiehlmann, a researcher for Blackman at Westminster, who was suspended from the House for tweeting that armed protesters should “confront Terfs”. One of these “Terf’s” is of course Joanna Cherry who he has frequently attacked on twitter.

Kirsten Oswald: Westminster Deputy Leader and Shadow Minister for Women & Equalities. LGBTQ/WOKE?
See:https://inews.co.uk/news/scotland/joanna-cherry-accuses-snp-colleagues-spreading-lies-smears-854700

Anne McLaughlin: Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Immigration. LGBTQ/WOKE
See: https://wingsoverscotland.com/a-change-of-plans/

Heterosexual?

Please advise if there are errors:

Stephen Flynn: Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Dave Doogan: Defence Team and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Team.
Brendan O’Hara: Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Allan Dorans: Foreign Affairs Team.
Steven Bonnar: Agriculture and Rural Affairs Team.
Stewart Hosie: Independence campaigning co-ordinator.
Chris Law: Shadow Secretary for International Development.
Douglas Chapman: Shadow Small Business & Innovation Spokesperson.
Tommy Sheppard: Shadow Cabinet Office Minister.
John McNally: Shadow Environment Spokesperson.
David Linden: Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Chris Stephens: Shadow Fair Work & Employment Spokesperson.
Peter Grant: Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Richard Thomson: Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Wales and Shadow Financial Secretary.
Ronnie Cowan: Shadow Infrastructure & Manufacturing Spokesperson.
Drew Hendry: Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade.
Alan Brown: Shadow Minister for the Energy and Climate Change.
Martyn Day: Shadow Public Health & Primary Care Spokesperson.
Owen Thompson: Chief Whip.
Angus MacNeil:
Gavin Newlands: Shadow Secretary of State for Transport and Shadow Sport Spokesperson.
Pete Wishart: Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.
Ian Blackford: Westminster Leader.
Dr P. Whitford: Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Shadow Minister for Europe.
Amy Callaghan: Shadow Pensions & Intergenerational Spokesperson.
Dr Lisa Cameron: Shadow Mental Health Spokesperson.
Deidre Brock: Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Alison Thewliss: Shadow Chancellor.
Carol Monaghan: Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Shadow Minister for Armed Forces and Veterans.
Marion Fellows: Deputy Whip and Shadow Disabilities Spokesperson.
Patricia Gibson: Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Shadow Consumer Affairs Spokesperson.

Winston Churchill and Zionism

Churchill fervently believed in markets free of restrictive practices. However, his beliefs were at odds with the Tory Party and increasingly disillusioned he offered his support to the Liberals, on condition he would be selected to stand for a seat in Manchester, at that time the centre of free trade in Britain.

His overtures to the powerful Jewish community in Manchester were eagerly embraced and he was willingly indoctrinated in the Zionist philosophy, many years before the movement expanded into positions of political power and influence.

Nathan Laski a cotton merchant, a Manchester magistrate, and a leader of the Liberal Party was also the most prominent Jewish leader in England.

In 1904 he pledged his support for the bid of Churchill (then a Liberal) to become MP for North West Manchester where the electorate was one third Jewish. Churchill won the election, and Laski became a life-long friend. It was at one of Laski’s dinners that Churchill and Chaim Weizmann first met.

In parliament, appalled by the persecution of Jews in Tsarist Russia, Churchill battled against legislation designed to curtail Jewish immigration to Britain.

Shortly after, he wrote in a letter: “I recognize the supreme attraction to a scattered and persecuted people of a safe and settled home under the flag of tolerance and freedom.”

Chaim Weizmann third left

Chaim Weizmann – Zionist World leader and First President of Israel

Weizmann was born in Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire, in 1874 and studied chemistry in Germany and Switzerland before lecturing in chemistry at the University of Geneva.

He emigrated to England in 1904, and six years later became a naturalized British citizen.  Churchill signed his papers.

He was a reader in biochemistry at the University of Manchester, UK, when the first world war broke out in 1914.

His discovery, in 1912, of a way of making acetone from the starch in cereal grains may well have saved his adopted country from defeat in the War against Germany.

In the early years of world war one, Britain faced a severe shortage of acetone, a solvent traditionally obtained by treating acetic acid obtained by the destructive distillation of wood.

It took about 100 tons of wood to produce just one ton of acetone.

The solvent was required in increasing quantities during the war for the manufacture of cordite, the propellant used by the British Army and Royal Navy to fire its artillery shells.

It also had other uses, not least for the manufacture of fire-resistant lacquers that were used to waterproof and stiffen the canvas wings of military and naval aircraft.

This placed an increased demand on wood, but there was a greater problem: before the war, Britain imported most of the acetone it needed from Germany and Austria, both of whom were on the opposing side.

The Weizmann process changed everything. Instead, it relied on the use of the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum (known as the Weizmann organism), to ferment maize, rice and other cereals.

The process yielded acetone, butanol and ethanol, and became known as ABE fermentation.

In 1915, Weizmann began work on the process for the British Admiralty and showed that it could potentially produce 12 tons of acetone from 100 tons of maize. (Chemistry World)

The Growth of Zionism and the Balfour Declaration

At the beginning of 1917 the War against Germany had reached a stalemate. The war in the Middle East, against the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Germany was being won and it was expected

Britain and France would be then be able to dismantle the regime and return democracy to a number of former States.

Enter: Chaim Weizmann, (President of the World Zionist Organization, later the first President of Israel).

In Manchester he had formed a friendship with ardent Zionist supporters Simon Marks and Israel Sieff who were in the process of turning Marks & Spencer from a family business into a nationwide retail giant. Once asked to describe their growing movement they said:

“It is a fellowship of friends brought together by a common cause and sharing a common approach”, giving themselves the rather grandiose title of the “Manchester School of Zionism.”

Weizmann’s single purpose, as a Zionist, was the lobbying of influential Westminster politicians (including Lloyd George, Arthur Balfour, Winston Churchill, and Herbert Samuel) to recognize and support the aims and aspirations of the Jewish Zionists in return for their assistance.

His requests were well received by a British government badly in need of Jewish finance and US military support and he was asked to submit his proposals in writing, to the Foreign Office.

Weizmann, together with with Leopold Amery, British Zionist and Colonial Secretary of State for India and Louis Brandeis, US Zionist Leader and Supreme Court Justice compiled and tabled a draft declaration.

“His majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing will be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

Foreign Secretary Balfour gained Cabinet approval and the declaration, as writ was circulated to eminent British Zionists formalizing British support for the establishment of a Jewish National Homeland in Palestine.

The following supported the declaration (with slight amendments):

1. The Rt. Hon. Herbert Samuel, M.P.
2. The Chief Rabbi.
3. Lord Rothschild.
4. Sir Stuart Samuel, Chairman of the British Board of Deputies.
5. Dr Weizmann.
6. Mr Nahura Sokolov.

The following did not support the draft and submitted major changes, some of which were included in the final declaration:

1. Sir Philip Magus, M.P.
2. C.G. Montifiore, President of the Anglo Jewish Association.
3 L.L. Cohen, Esq, Jewish Board of Guardians.

1918 King Hussein Expresses Concern

Emir Hussein was perplexed by the declaration and in 1918 the British government sent Commander Hogarth of the Arab Bureau to Cairo to assure him that the Jewish settlement of Palestine would be allowed only if it was compatible with the freedom of the existing population. He implored Hussein to accept the Zionists because, “the friendship of world Jewry to the Arab cause is equivalent to support in all states where Jews have political influence”. A joint Anglo-French proclamation promising Arab’s a government, “freely chosen by the population, gave Hussein the assurances he desired.

1918-1919: Arab Leader King Faisal Approves Balfour Declaration

Jerusalem was liberated from Turkish rule by General Allenby’s army on December 11 1917, when the last German troops left the city.

Accompanied by “Lawrence of Arabia”, Allenby walked through Jaffa Gate in a ceremony watched by rabbis, muftis, patriarchs, consuls and the Mayor of Jerusalem.

Lawrence called it “the supreme moment of the war, the one which for historical reasons made a greater appeal than anything on earth.”

The Zionists were seen by Britain as an engine for the revival of the Middle East. Western Palestine, in the McMahon-Hussein correspondence of 1915, had specifically been excluded from the Ottoman territories promised to the Hashemite Arabs.

In 1918, the Zionist Commission came to Palestine and Chaim Weizmann travelled over the desert with Lawrence to meet Emir Faisal, the Hashemite leader who started the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, near Aqaba.

Weizmann told Faisal that the Jews would develop the country under British protection.

Lawrence saw the Jews as “natural importers of Western leaven so necessary for countries in the Near East.”

Faisal “accepted the possibility of future Jewish claims to territory in Palestine.”

When the three men met later in London, Faisal agreed that Palestine could absorb “four to five million Jews without encroaching on the rights of the Arab peasantry.”

He approved a Jewish majority in Palestine provided he received the crown of Syria.

There followed a written document in Paris in January 1919, signed by Faisal and Weizmann, in which the Emir agreed to “the fullest guarantee for carrying into effect the British Government’s Declaration of the 2nd of November 1917″ and enforcing all necessary measures to “encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale.”

In a letter to the Zionists, Faisal wrote, “We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement” and that, “we will do our best, in so far as we are concerned, to help them through: we will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home.”

Faisal felt that “there exists room in Syria for us both and that neither can be a success without the other.”

King George V urged his foreign secretary to “find a reason to go to war with Germany” two days before outbreak of First World War

A secret letter has been unearthed documenting a private meeting between King George V and his Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, during which the King urged Grey to declare war on Germany.

The King, a constitutional monarch, had previously avoided making public declarations about Europe said it was “absolutely essential” Britain go to war in order to prevent Germany from achieving “complete domination of this country”

However when his Foreign Secretary Sir Edward, said that the cabinet hadn’t found a justifiable reason to enter the conflict, the King replied: “You have got to find a reason, Grey.”

Grey returned to his room in the Foreign Office and made the now famous remark as he watched the lamps being lit outside: ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.’

By August 4th, Britain was at war.

World War 1 was described as the war to end all wars being one of the most bitter and destructive conflicts in World history wiping out a generation of young Scotsmen.

A total of 147,609 Scots lost their lives in the four-year-long conflict between 1914 and 1918.

While Scotland had just a tenth of the UK’s population, its soldiers accounted for a fifth of Britain’s war dead. Or, to put it another way, twice as many Scots died per head of population than was the case south of the border.

On arrival in France, Scots found themselves having to ensure the horrors and privations of trench warfare, the constant threat of disease and worst of all the risk of death in near-suicide attacks ordered by the Generals.

The slaughter took place on an almost biblical scale. Scots soldiers, for instance, fought at the battle of Loos – the first significant British land action of the war in October 1915. The battle was a disaster.

Scots regiments were in the thick of the action. They were ordered over the top and marched towards the enemy lines, making themselves sitting ducks for German machine gunners. It was a turkey shoot. By the time the battle was over, the British had lost 50,000 men against the enemy’s 20,000 and had failed to make any strategic gains whatsoever.

The generals, however, did not learn their lesson. Trench warfare continued for the whole of the conflict, with attempts by troops on both sides to break out of their positions and press forwards leading to huge casualties.

Scots troops featured prominently in another of the most notorious engagements of the Great War – the notorious Battle of the Somme in June 1916.

The Edinburgh-born General Douglas Haig, who was Commander in Chief of the British Forces and a national hero, was convinced that a powerful attack could determine the outcome of the war.

Haig was to be proved tragically wrong. Soldiers of the Highland Light Infantry were among those to be butchered en masse in the carnage that followed. Once again, they were told to make their way out of the trenches and across No Man’s Land to try and take over the German positions.

To the skirl of the bagpipes, the men went over the top. Once again, however, the Germans had ensured their own lines were heavily defended. The heavy machine guns opened up, and the Scots soldiers, along with other allied troops, were mown down. In one day of fighting alone, 20,000 allied soldiers died. The 17th Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry alone lost 447 soldiers and 22 officers.

2017: Scottish government to protect peatlands.

An £8 million investment will restore peatlands and help reduce carbon emissions, Climate Change Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has revealed as she opened the funding for applications today.

Communities and land managers can apply for the Peatlands Action Fund which will help the Scottish Government deliver on its proposals to restore 250,000 hectares of peatlands by 2032.

Around 1.7 million hectares of Scotland is covered in peatlands and keeping them well-maintained mitigates against climate change by locking in carbon.

If left in a degraded condition they produce greenhouse gas emissions rather than act as a sink for soaking up carbon.

Andrew McBride, SNH Peatland Action Manager said: “This is wonderful news for our peatlands and our wildlife, as well as for tourism and rural jobs.

The extra investment will almost double the amount of peatlands we can restore, and also get more people aware and involved in taking care of this valuable natural resource.

Peatland Action is one of our key projects in the delivery of the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity Peatland Action has worked closely with a wide range of land managers and communities.

From this working relationship, we’ve seen the importance of healthy peatlands, not only to wildlife but also to many industries, including tourism, fisheries and the water industry.

We look forward to continuing work with existing partners, and also meeting new faces interested in restoring our degraded peatlands.”

Lorna Slater, Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity announces no support for fossil extraction

On the adoption of the policy position, she said: ”Right now, the UK Government is considering opening a major new coal mine in Cumbria. They have even issued a coal licence in South Scotland.

Make no mistake, this is Westminster climate denial. It would be the final nail in the coffin for the UK’s international reputation. It must be stopped.

She also challenged the UK Government to follow Scotland’s lead and rule out approval for any coal operations in England too. Adding: “Scotland – the country that helped bring the coal-fired industrial revolution to the world has drawn a line. The coal era is over. And I’m calling on the UK Government to follow us. To make the right call for once. To ban coal extraction for good.”

Further explaining the reasoning behind the position she said: “A transition is not just moving towards something, it’s also about moving away from something.

We have to leave fossil fuels in the ground. Fossil fuels in Scotland and the North Sea are no exception. That’s why the Scottish Government opposed Cambo. That’s why we will fight the UK Government’s reckless pursuit to extract every last drop of oil and gas. That is why Scotland stands strong against fracking.”

Powers over coal exploitation are reserved to the UK Government and the Coal Authority is responsible for licensing coal mining activity in Scotland. However, planning policy and determinations are devolved to the Scottish Government.

Midlothian Council approves extraction of millions of tonnes of peat from Auchencorth and Whim Moss

The Scottish Wildlife Trust and many climate change activists are greatly saddened that the extraction of thousands of tonnes of peat has been given the go-ahead at Auchencorth and Whim Moss, near Penicuik, over the next twenty years.

The peatlands are important carbon stores and wildlife habitats and also play an important part in reducing flood risk.

The decision is incredulous given the fossil free policies recently published by the SNP/Green government and a recent statement by Lorna Slater (Green Party leader and government minister confirming a hard-line no support approach for fossil extraction. And she is the constituency MSP.

A Warning

The Scottish Green Party has joined with the SNP and formed the next government at Holyrood.

The establishment of a coalition government was a cynical move by Sturgeon and Harvie enabling them to make relatively unchallenged advances in their controversial social behaviour agendas.

Voters need to be alerted to excesses inherent in a number of these policies. Namely the implementation of the discredited Yogyakarta principles and other trans rights and GRA policies which will be forced onto statute by a government supported by gerrymandered consultation and with the active assistance and support of the all powerful “Equality Network”.

Voters concerned about plans to remove women’s rights and exposure of their families to regulatory imposition of oppressive social norms need to be alerted to the foregoing so that they will be better informed and able to give their vote to “ALBA” a party that fully intends to consult with and gain the support of the electorate before adding any new statute to the Laws of the Country.

Other reading: https://caltonjock.com/2021/04/19/the-okedokees-of-the-snp-greens-lib-dems-are-intent-on-selling-scottish-women-down-the-river/

23 Apr 2019: Green Party Leader accused of being a misogynist

The blog “A Thousand Flowers” posted a derogatory twitter article declaring Joan McAlpine SNP the winner of its weekly wanker accolade for airing her views about the rights of women and transgender people.

Patrick Harvie couldn’t resist commenting and shared it with his followers writing: “If the SNP wants to be a safe and supportive place for trans and gender non conforming people, they have to squarely take on those trying to prevent trans people having the same rights as anyone else“.

Twitter users were horrified. A spokeswomen for the Scottish Women’s blog tweeted “Good grief! I’m horrified that Harvie could ever retweet an abusive blog about another politician. Surely this goes against the code of conduct expected from our parliamentarians?” Her comments were echoed by other contributors.

But Harvie has form. In a previous twitter exchange he questioned the online abuse Joan had received when he said: “there is a serious debate to be had about such “abuse” but we can’t have it if people react with outrage to complaints from anti-trans campaigners but say nothing of the horrific wave of transphobic hostility, prejudice and violence that’s destroying people’s everyday lives”.

To which Joan responded: “My comments were in response to (male to female) trans activists who called me trash and justified violence against women who disagree with them. And the male leader of the Green Party in Scotland, pins his colours firmly to the she was asking for it mast.”

Harvie replied: “It’s disappointing that Joan McAlpine and a few others in the SNP have promoted anti-trans rhetoric in recent months, and apparently want to roll back trans people’s equality and human rights. Those attitudes and actions should be challenged, robustly but without abuse.”

Joan said: “Patrick Harvie should be ashamed of trying to justify the online abuse of women and indulging in it himself. Women are concerned their rights to privacy, fairness and dignity and safety are affected by proposals which means males can legally become women without surgery, medical diagnosis or gatekeeping. It is not “anti-trans” to question this proposal, but doing so has resulted in women being abused or threatened with violence. That Patrick Harvie seems to think they are asking for it is very worrying but bullies will not silence us.”

23 Jun 2019: Harvie stirs the sh*t at the Edinburgh Pride march

I met up with around a dozen like minded friends aged between 20-60. Some were wearing t-shirts proudly proclaiming “we are Lesbians”. We wanted to ensure lesbians would be visible yet despite an outward display of confidence we were alerted to an undercurrent of nervousness between the marchers and ourselves. Our apprehension was based on the negative attitude of other groups who did not approve of relationships that excluded men in our choice of partners. Acceptable? Yes!! but only if we conducted our chosen lifestyle in secret.

But we displayed our banners and sang our songs. Other lesbians came up to us and said they wished they had known we were marching and bemoaned the lack of Lesbian spaces and community in Scotland. They waved their hand-made purple and black placards, courageously yet quietly proclaiming their Lesbian existence and relieved to have support and solidarity of like minded people. There was an act of physical aggression against our group when an angry young person grabbed a placard and destroyed it screaming “TERF” but the stewards soon restored order.

But what was chilling and caused fear in our group was the content of speeches from MSPs who addressed the crowd at a pre-march rally, from the top of an open top bus. In particular the words of Patrick Harvie, Green MSP, where he said “I am sorry that this parliament very recently was used as a platform for transphobic hatred and bigotry”. And went on to say he felt compelled to apologise for the undemocratic workings of Parliament, and its decision to put a hold on GRA reform until it had been fully considered and deliberated by a broad range of groups who might be affected and, importantly, the conflation of sex and gender that has infested policy making in Scotland. His speech whipped the crowd into a frenzy, since they had already been warmed up by previous similar speeches. And whilst the promoted theme of the “Pride” was “Be Yourself”, the real focus was not about the right to be loved and to express love without prejudice, it was about “trans rights” and only that.

Thanks to the spittle infused rhetoric espoused by Harvie our group’s situation was upscaled from hostile to dangerous. We feared for our safety and attack from the mob, since immediately after, a number of people started shouting “get the TERF’s out” They meant us and we had already been blocked in by some very large people with “Trans” and “Non-Binary” flags draped over their shoulders cancelling out our groups “lesbian visibility” banners.

It later transpired that lesbians had abandoned the march after they had been harassed by “trans rights” activists who accused them of being bigots for standing up for female rights and forcing politicians to add their support. Lesbians were no longer welcomed at “Pride” marches.

Full story here: https://womansplaceuk.org/2019/06/23/lesbians-at-edinburgh-pride-a-personal-account/

Multiculturalism – The Labour Party – uncontrolled immigration – a trip down memory lane

Secret papers revealed that the Labour Party threw open the doors to mass migration in a deliberate policy to change the social make-up of the UK.

A draft report from the Cabinet Office showed that ministers wanted to ‘maximise the contribution’ of migrants to their ‘social objectives’.

The number of foreigners allowed in the UK increased by as much as 50 per cent in the wake of the report, written in 2000.

Melting pot: Labour’s diversity drive is exposed in secret papers Labour has always justified immigration on economic grounds and denied it was using it to foster multiculturalism.

But suspicions of a secret agenda rose when Andrew Neather, former government adviser and speech writer for Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett, said:

“the aim of Labour’s immigration strategy is to rub the rights’ nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date”.

Neather also said Labour’s relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to:

“open up the UK to mass migration” but ministers were nervous and reluctant to discuss the move publicly for fear it would alienate the core working class vote.

As a result, the public argument for immigration concentrated instead on the economic benefits and need for more migrants.”

Critics said the revelations showed a “conspiracy” within Government to impose mass immigration for “cynical” political reasons.

Some 2.3 million migrants were added to the population since then, according to Whitehall estimates quietly slipped out on a good day to release bad news..

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the Migration Watch think tank, said:

“Now at least the truth is out, and it’s dynamite. Many have long suspected that mass immigration under Labour was not just a cock up but also a conspiracy. They were right. This Government has admitted three million immigrants for cynical political reasons concealed by dodgy economic camouflage.”

The chairmen of the cross-party Group for Balanced Migration, MPs Frank Field and Nicholas Soames, said:

“We welcome this statement by an ex-adviser, which the whole country knows to be true. “It is the first beam of truth that has officially been shone on the immigration issue in Britain.”

A Home Office spokesman said:

“Our new flexible points based system gives us greater control on those coming to work or study from outside Europe, ensuring that only those that Britain need can come.

Britain’s borders are stronger than ever before and we are rolling out ID cards to foreign nationals, we have introduced civil penalties for those employing illegal workers and from the end of next year our electronic border system will monitor 95 per cent of journeys in and out of the UK. The British people can be confident that immigration is under control.    (This was a big big lie.)

A Decade Later – Multiculturalism Fails – 4 Million Immigrants – White Minority Areas Expanding

Demos, the Left-wing think-tank, said its analysis of Census data for England and Wales showed ethnic minorities are concentrating in particular areas and white people are moving out.

The findings echo a phenomenon first seen in the mid-20th century United States – where it was dubbed “white flight” – which saw racially-mixed urban areas become predominantly black as affluent whites moved to the suburbs.

The research is significant because Demos, which was once closely linked with the previous Labour government which increased immigration to record levels, suggested ethnic minorities are becoming more isolated in British life rather than becoming more integrated in a “multi-cultural” Britain.

It found 4.6 million ethnic minority Britons – about 45 per cent of the country’s black and Asian population – are now living in areas where whites are in a minority.

Ten years ago just 1 million black and Asian people, or 25 per cent of the country’s then total ethnic minority population, lived in such communities, said Demos.

Ed Miliband acknowledged that the last government made mistakes presiding over the most rapid expansion of our foreign-born population in history.

He conceded that wages were being depressed by the influx of immigrant labour and that British workers had found it more difficult to get a job as a result. Up to now, this has always been denied by the ministers responsible.

The Telegraph

Apr 2021: The Equality Network

Is a government funded lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality and human rights charity.

Its influence over SNP policies and many aspects of Scottish society is absolute.

But Scots may not embrace imposed political changes in society without informed consultation and there has been little of that.

The political network represents around 0.4% of Scotland’s population monitors the commitment of political parties in Scotland to changes in the laws of Scotland advocated by its political champions, the SNP, Green’s and Lib/Dems.

The 2021 Green Party and the Lib/Dems

Party Manifestos stated that in government they would:

“Ensure that health and social care services throughout Scotland, including mental health services, are fully inclusive of LGBT+ people and designed to remove barriers and tackle health inequalities.”

“Implement the Time for Inclusion Education (TIE) campaign recommendations, including the delayed delivery of promised funding to assist the important

“Deliver long overdue reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, including statutory self-declaration, recognising non-binary identities and all genders, and providing access to health care for trans minors with parental or guardian consent.”

“Introduce an informed consent model of trans healthcare, and in the meantime continue to push for access to Gender Identity Clinics within 18 weeks, in line with NHS standards for other services.”

“Ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’, which refers to unethical and unnecessary interventions that seek to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBT+ people or alter a person’s sex characteristics without their consent.”

“Ensure LGBT+ inclusion in Scottish Government international development policies, and enshrining the Yogyakarta human rights principles into Scots law.”

Yogyakarta human rights principles: To avoid gender discrimination, in whatever area, full provision must be made for all those people who experience discrimination because of their gender role, gender identity or gender expression. In particular, provision must be made for those with an absence of intimate conviction as to being a man or a woman.

The Yogyakarta Principles: Women’s Rights Were Not Considered

Professor Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law at Kings College London, is an expert on anti-discrimination law and sexual orientation law, and was one of the co-authors of the influential “Yogyakarta Principles”.

He now says the international human rights community got it wrong in merging lesbian and gay rights with the idea of a right to have “gender identity” replace sex.

The Yogyakarta principles, developed in 2006  built on the UK’s Gender Recognition Act, presenting it as international best practice. Principle 3 argues for a right to have gender identity replace sex on all identity documents and in all situations. (The Critic)

Stonewall has been on the receiving end of a backlash for its position on trans rights, concern over which was reportedly the reason for many companies parting ways with the scheme.

The charity holds that people should be able to self-identify with the gender that they choose, but has also been accused of attempting to shut down any debate on the issue by labelling anyone who disagrees with this position – for example people who argue that allowing trans women to use women-only facilities or compete in female sports violates the rights of women – of being transphobic.

Critics also point out that self-identification is not currently recognised in UK law, and changing gender is governed by the Gender Recognition Act 2004, requiring a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Increasing numbers of high-profile employers are ending their partnerships with the charity. Among them are Channel 4, Ofsted, the Cabinet Office, and the UK’s equality watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the latter two of which said the scheme no longer provided good value for money.

The Scottish Government and Civil Service have retained membership of the scheme and enter into its annual “Workplace Equality Index” and “Global Workplace Equality Index” where they are benchmarked against other companies. The list is published as an annual rundown of the top 100 employers for LGBTI inclusion.

Political leaders fronting “pride” events and/or parades gain points for their team which are credited to the two equality scheme competitions. Nicola Sturgeon has performed well in this regard. Yet she has never attended any of the numerous marches for independence. Evidently LGBTI rights are of prime importance whilst the battle for independence “withers on the vine”.

Stonewall co-founder Matthew Parris, said: “the charity has become tangled up in the trans issue and cornered itself into an extremist stance”.

Stonewall co-founder Simon Fanshawe, said: “Stonewall has become single-mindedly focused on a particular and by no means universally accepted approach to trans rights”.

Nicola Sturgeon, Stonewall fanatic defended the controversial LGBTI Lobby Group amid a backlash against it from the UK Government

2014: Sturgeon’s first address to Holyrood

In her acceptance speech to the chamber she revealed her single most priority in government would be gender equality when she said:

“To become first minister is special and it is a big responsibility. To make history as the first woman first minister is even more so. I hope my election does indeed open the gate to greater opportunity for all women. I hope it sends a strong, positive message to all girls and young women across our land. There should be no limit to your ambition for what you can achieve, if you are good enough and you work hard enough, the sky is the limit to what you can achieve, and no glass ceiling should ever stop you from achieving your dreams.”

Thanking her husband, the SNP chief executive, Peter Murrell, and her family, who were watching the vote from the balcony, in gesture to her eight-year-old niece she said: “She doesn’t yet know about the gender pay gap or unequal representation or the barriers that make it so hard for so many women to pursue careers. My fervent hope is that she never will, that by the time she is a young woman she will have no need to know because they will have been consigned to history.” That there was no mention of the fight for independence surprised and disappointed many observers.

2014: Sturgeon’s first cabinet

Sturgeon confirmed her commitment to gender equality by recalibrating the gender balance of the cabinet with the announcement of a 50/50 split between men and women. Designed to send a strong positive message to girls and young women it instead confirmed her single minded determination to ignore political reality in pursuit of dogma since only 26% of the SNP MSP’s were female. A much smaller pool of female talent providing half the cabinet did not augur well for the future.

2015: Turning Scotland into a WOKE cultural institution

By the beginning of 2015 previously contained policy differences within the Con/Dem government began to surface and this coupled with the failure of the Smith Commission to fully deliver the much vaunted promises of “the Vow” polarised voting intentions in Scotland around the SNP. The Party’s surge in popularity continued unabated and Sturgeon was lauded by the UK and foreign press who were impressed by her leadership and publicly stated ideals. Invitations asking her to address foreign governments and women’s liberation groups poured into Holyrood. Exposing her inexperience in matters of state she succumbed to the false dawn and arranged a short speaking tour of Europe and the USA for herself and her special adviser Liz Lloyd, clearly believing the manufactured hype crediting her with the Party’s recently acquired popularity to be true.

The media hyped status as the “Boadicea of the North” also persuaded her to the view that her leadership of the Party and Scottish Government was absolute and with the support of her husband, the Party’s Chief Executive, she centralised control of all Party decisions on herself and a small team of trusted advisers including vetting and approving all candidates for the next UK General Election scheduled for May 2015.

The candidate list decided on proved to be controversial and unrepresentative of the Party membership since it included many who were new to the Party and the cause of independence and there appeared to be a much larger than previous group of LBGTI people.

Adding to the disquiet was the revelation that former UK ambassador Craig Murray, whose contribution to the “Yes” campaign had been immense and who had expressed an interest in being an SNP candidate in Airdrie and Shotts, had failed Sturgeon’s vetting procedure blocked from standing.

North Lanarkshire SNP councillors and rejected candidates Alan Beveridge and John Taggart both resigned giving voice that there was malignant practice within the party at HQ level following the refusal to reveal the breakdown for votes in candidate selection. In a press statement Beveridge said: There is a climate of fear and democracy and our party is under serious threat when HQ in Edinburgh decides to refuse to reveal the breakdown of the votes cast for each candidate.

2015: The Civil Service in Scotland – Diversity Champions

The current Director General of Learning and Justice, Irish born Leslie Evans, who joined the Scottish government in 2000 after a career in local government was appointed Scotland’s top Civil Servant on 1 July 2015, replacing Sir Peter Housden as Permanent Secretary.

Welcoming the new appointment Sturgeon said: “Leslie brings vast experience to the job an I look forward to working with her in her new role as Scotland’s most senior Civil Servant, to deliver outstanding public services and the very best for the people of Scotland.”

Evans was expected to introduce major changes in the Civil Service in Scotland actively supported by fellow “Stonewall Champion” Barbara Allison, who was promoted to a new greatly expanded role as Director of Communications, Ministerial Support & Facilities Services.

The recruitment and appointment process of the new Permanent Secretary was tasked to the offices of the “First Civil Service Commissioner” in Whitehall, so that the Westminster Government would be assured of the appointment of a “Stonewall Champion” who would be accountable to the UK Government Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood preventing a repeat of the “gone native” conduct of Sir Peter Housden. A key task for the new Permanent Secretary was to rebuild trust with Holyrood’s Unionist Parties and Whitehall mandarins.

2015: Sturgeon and Stonewall hit Scotland

The Scottish Government’s LGBTI Network Group was recognised as LGBTI inclusive by Stonewall Scotland whose Managing Director said: “LGBT inclusive employers play a crucial role in changing society by using their power and influence to proudly support LGBTI people in their organisations. Our award winners are leading the way, championing lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality in the workplace.

Senior Civil Servant, Barbara Allison, responsible for Communications, Ministerial Support and Facilities in the Scottish Government and Group Leader, collected the award and said: “LGBTI equality and inclusion are at the heart of our ambition to be a world leading, diverse employer where people can be themselves at work. Our LGBTI Network is critical to building a supportive and inclusive workplace, providing a valuable space of empowerment, community and constructive challenge to our organisation. It has shown itself to be a powerful force for good in shifting perceptions and promoting understanding and we are delighted that the hard work of its members has been recognised by Stonewall.”

Afternote: Provides explanation to the Evans/Allison twice denied email exchange, “the battle may be lost but not the war” after Alex Salmond won his judicial review against the Scottish Government.

2015-2024: Stonewall gifted £1million by the Scottish Government

Questions have been asked about the Scottish Government’s major funding to LGBT charity Stonewall who recently stated: “Research suggests that children as young as two recognise their trans identity. LGBTQ inclusive and affirming education is crucial for the wellbeing of all young people. Yet, many nurseries and schools teach a binary understanding of pre-assigned gender.” The statement was criticised by the LGB Alliance as an “extreme ideological belief.”

The payments do not include the Scottish Government awarding Stonewall £25k to be part of its diversity champions programme. A scheme that “advises employers how to bring their policies in line” with Stonewall’s best practice to make workplaces better and fairer for LGBT staff. Critics claim that the programme is a lobbying enterprise and not impartial.

A spokeswoman for “Women of Scotland” criticised the money spent stating: “Stonewall are a lobbying group and we are concerned about the Scottish Government giving large amounts of taxpayers money to the Scottish branch of an international pseudo charity. Many Scots are volunteering to give their free time to help feed the homeless in Glasgow and Edinburgh and these lobbying groups are getting all this money chucked at them to do what exactly? They charge the Scottish Government for going on courses and have the cheek to go down to councils and charge them and try that at local schools, and it’s not training as such.”

Stonewall previously came under-fire for trying to instruct public bodies to remove gendered words such as “mother” from their HR policies. A change which Leslie Evans agreed to by amending the Civil Service maternity leave policy so that the organisation could improve its standing on Stonewall’s controversial Workplace Equality Index.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We work with a wide range of third sector organisations, including registered charity Stonewall Scotland, to help shape policy and practice to improve outcomes for LGBTI communities across Scotland. Grant funding is awarded to Stonewall to tackle issues of LGBTI discrimination in public life in Scotland, including in workplaces, health services and communities, and to better equip public service providers to meet the public sector equality duty. In 2021/22 we provided around £3million to third sector organisations in the homelessness sector.”

2015: Staff recruitment influenced by Stonewall

Stonewalls extensive input into the Scottish Government’s 2018 campaign to recruit 150 senior “band 2” officials was revealed under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act confirming concerns about the extent of Stonewalls influence over the recruitment of Scottish senior Civil Service officials and Special Advisers witnessed by the Scottish government’s contravention of the rules governing the impartiality of the civil service through the application of pressure encouraging Civil Service recruitment panels to communicate with Stonewall as part of their recruitment campaigns. In addition to the recruitment and promotion of senior civil servants Stonewall is also routinely contracted to train officials who go on to endorse support for contentious changes to gender identity law.

2015: The Stonewall Workplace Equality Index

The index is promoted by Stonewall as being a celebration of the fairest employers in the country and their efforts to eliminate discrimination in the workplace.

Taking a contrary view the chairwoman of Sex Matters said: “Stonewall sells its Workplace Equality Index as a scheme to help organisations comply with equality law – but what it offers is lobbying. It also presents its own highly contentious understanding of what the law should be, presented as ‘training’ on what the law is and tells organisations to treat anyone who identifies as the opposite sex as if they have changed sex, and are therefore automatically entitled to use spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and showers that others rely on for privacy – that’s not the law. But Stonewall presents it as if it is and encourages organisations to treat any objections as a disciplinary matter.

The Scottish government participates in the scheme at an annual cost of £2500.

In one 31 page annual return, Leslie Evans offered up screenshots of its social media activities for Stonewall’s approval including details of every “Pride” event attended by Sturgeon, together with examples of “LGBT champions” censuring dissenting colleagues on internal forums as proof of the Scottish Government’s commitment to “equality”.

The return also contained a commitment to consult on changing the laws of the country when in a section “worth 10% of the total score” of the 2017 application, it pledged to “consult on reforming gender recognition legislation in line with international best practice for transgender people.”

Questioned in the 2018 application form, “has your organisation done any further work in the past year to promote LGBT equality in the wider community?”, Evans responded that it “has consulted on potential reforms to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to introduce a self declaratory system”.

Stonewall lobbied for people to have access to single-sex spaces, on the basis of their self-declared “gender identity” instead of biological sex. A controversial proposal opposed by many women, who fear it will open up spaces such as changing rooms, prisons, refuges and women-only shortlists to any biological male who says they are a woman.

In an effort to win points, the government also described how it was “consulting on the detail of what should be included in a new hate crime bill”.

The recently passed “hate crime bill” legislation, created a new offence of “stirring up hatred” on grounds such as transgender identity, and attracted criticism for excluding women as a protected group.

But its implementation also won the Government a pat on the back from Stonewall who stated: “The sponsorship and support the Scottish Government provides is highly valuable and impactful, and together with the consultations towards reforming gender recognition legislation it has an influential and powerful role in improving the lives of LGBT people across Scotland.” The reward was 18 out of 20 points.

In another application, Stonewall awarded the Scottish Government 11 out 17 points: “for its “influence on the 2021 census”.

Despite all the many commitments to change the legal landscape not only within its own workplace but across the whole country, the Scottish Government missed out on a Top 100 ranking by just one place — it came 101st.

Responding to the setback Leslie Evans declared in a blog: “We can and must do better than this.” And her exortions bore fruit, in the following year, the Scottish Government was placed 72nd.

And Stonewall demanded more saying: “Some key areas to focus on before the next submission. Ensure that Mothers, Pregnant Women and Fathers gender terminology is removed from your Maternity and Paternity policies.”

It failed to do so and the year after it sunk down to 127th.

Stonewall commented: “We have identified the following areas as priorities for the year ahead. Remove any remaining gendered terms such as ‘mother’ from your maternity policy, and replace them with gender neutral equivalents. Please refer to Stonewall’s Inclusive Policy Toolkit for further information.”

Critics say Stonewall uses the scheme to impose its own language and beliefs, with which not all gay and transgender people agree.