Worst excuse by a national leader to avoid D-day event? Golf-club dinner. [View All]

[Screaming Lord Byron]

Premier of Scotland Jack McConnell's blew out the D-Day commemoration to attend a golf club dinner in St Andrews.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/scotland/story/0,9061,1232657,00.html

The First Minister provoked fury when it emerged he had circulated a two-line email to his ministers and deputies asking if anyone was free to attend the D-Day commemoration in his place.

Andy Kerr, the Finance Minister and MSP for East Kilbride, accepted. Although recognised by just 1 per cent of the population in a recent survey for the Scotsman , McConnell's advisers insisted it was entirely proper for him to take his place alongside world leaders and heads of state, including the Queen, Tony Blair, George Bush, Jacques Chirac, Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder.

But on Friday morning, after giving a talk on improving the image of Scotland abroad at a marketing conference, a stony-faced McConnell emerged from a huddle with his aides to say he had decided he would represent the Scottish government.

He received some credit for doing the right thing but quickly came under fire again when, in a public letter, he blamed the media for creating the furore.