FORMER SNP leader Gordon Wilson has criticised an ex-adviser to Alex Salmond about her involvement in helping secure £150,000 of Scottish Government cash for T in the Park after being hired by the festival.
Wilson said would-be SNP Holyrood candidate Jennifer Dempsie, who helped broker a meeting between festival promoters DF Concerts Ltd and Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop in May, had “lost credibility” and should be referred back to the party bosses for interview.
Dempsie was a special adviser for the former First Minister and is now seeking an SNP candidacy for Holyrood in the Highlands and Islands. She is also the partner of Angus Robertson, leader of the SNP group at Westminster.
Wilson, who led the SNP in the 1980s, also raised concerns about such a large sum of money going to a festival promoter at time when public budgets were tight.
He said: “A party’s reputation is more easily lost than gained. The Jennifer Dempsie case serves as a useful lesson.
“The SNP should toughen up on relationships of ministers, MSPs, MPs and MEPs with all lobbyists, regardless of their affiliations. This is all the more important given the new prominence of the party at Holyrood and Westminster and its access to patronage. The party’s Code of Conduct should be reviewed at the highest level.
“As for Jennifer Dempsie, she has personally lost credibility. The National Executive Committee has power to refer back candidates for re-interview by its election committee without prejudice.
“The reputation of the party is more important than the ambitions of an individual. But this is in her interests as much as those of the party as it will allow her to state her case.”
Wilson added: “As for the grant to T in the Park, the finance secretary should warn all ministers and the civil service that we live in an age of austerity when the criteria for spending public money should be stringent.”
Earlier this week Scottish Labour called for an investigation when it emerged Dempsie helped set up the meeting between Hyslop and the festival’s organiser.
Yesterday, The Herald reported Dempsie also wrote to the planning authorities in support of the festival as part of a public consultation without declaring that she was working for its organisers.
She urged Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) to support its relocation from Balado, near Kinross, to Strathallan Castle, near Auchterarder.
However, her email failed to mention she was working on a short-term contract as a project manager for DF Concerts.
At the time the authority had yet to approve the planning application for the event, which faced opposition from some local people. Dempsie wrote on April 17: “PKC should support this application as T in the Park is of local and national importance to the economy, culture and society of Scotland.
“DF Concerts has a excellent record from 21 years’ experience and strong plans in place to make this a successful event at Strathallan Castle.”
She added: “Having lived in Kinross with my family running a local business there, T in the Park was a major boost to the local economy and would be the same for the Strathallan area.”
Dempsie, whose contract ended with DF Concerts in May, before the grant was awarded, told The Herald: “As a huge fan of T in the Park I joined thousands of others in making my views known in the public consultation, many of whom had worked or work with DF Concerts such as musicians and their managers. I am a member of the public, not a Member of Parliament. "My position with DF Concerts was well known and understood by Perth and Kinross Council, given that I had met with them during the course of the planning application, and it was a matter of public record as I had written about it in the media. "I was completely right to highlight the economic and cultural importance of T in the Park.
"It is disappointing that rather than supporting Scotland's premier music festival, some are trying to undermine it through smears and innuendo."
An SNP spokesman said: “There is nothing relevant to candidate assessment in any of the issues raised by Mr Wilson. Ms Dempsie is seeking nomination for the Highlands and Islands regional list, but is not at the moment a parliamentary candidate.”
DF Concerts has defended the handout, awarded on July 2, saying it was forced to spend more than £1million to bring the Strathallan Estate up to standard for the festival.
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