Alex Salmond has claimed Margaret Thatcher courted his support and “admired” the SNP while in office.
In an interview yesterday the SNP MP for Gordon said the Iron Lady plied him with whisky in the late 1980s to try and get his political support.
The former First Minister of Scotland told a website: “She handed me a glass of whisky, and said ‘Freedom and whisky go together’ a quote from Burns, I couldn’t believe it.
“Then she said ‘Alex, you know I’ve always admired the Scottish National Party’, and I replied ‘Well, Prime Minister, I’m
actually quite surprised to hear you say that’.
“She said: ‘You’ve pursued your aims in an entirely constitutional way, never flinching from the ballot box regardless of electoral disappointment.’”
In the wide-ranging interview he also said oil companies had played down the amount of oil in Scottish waters to make the country’s economy appear weaker than it is.
He said: “Secret oil fields is not a conspiracy, it’s just a fact.
“Oil companies have hidden oil fields for generations I don’t think they were hiding them specifically for the referendum, they were just hiding them.
“What good does it do to exaggerate your resources when you’re asking for tax concessions?”
Meanwhile, current First Minister Nicola Sturgeon continued her party’s courting of traditional Labour support yesterday by insisting the SNP were now the party of working people.
Addressing the SNP Trade Union Group’s conference in Stirling she said the group now had almost 16,000 members more than Scottish Labour Party’s total membership of 13,000.
She said: “There are now almost 16,000 members of the SNP Trade Union Group, compared to around 800 at the time of the referendum, which is far more than the membership of the entire Labour Party in Scotland.
“At the General Election last month, most trade union members in Scotland voted SNP for the very first time in a Westminster election.
“In all senses, the SNP are now the national party of Scotland including the working people in Scotland.
“This growth and success hasn’t happened by itself it reflects the hard work and deep commitment of SNP trade union members on issues such as fair work, the Living Wage, gender equality, asylum, zero-hours contracts and opposition to cuts.”
She also blasted the Tories’ refusal to devolve the minimum wage in the Scotland Bill.
She added if the Tories refused to raise the minimum wage across the UK, the SNP would seek to build “maximum unity in Scotland” by winning the same powers for Holyrood.
Last night Scottish Labour hit back at her claims.
Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: “Working people in Scotland deserve action, not just warm words.”
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