Sir Sean Connery`s spokesman accuses Scottish Executive of dirty tricks over Tartan Day

After the unsavory comments at last years Tartan Day, it would seem according to the Sunday Herald, that this year’s event is to be marred before it even begins.

Sir Sean Connery’s relations with First Minister Jack McConnell have plunged to an all-time low after the star’s official spokesman accused the Scottish Executive of involvement in a ‘politically motivated’ complaint against his charity.

James Baron said he ‘wouldn’t bet the family farm’ that the First Minister’s officials weren’t behind the leaking of a probe into the Friends of Scotland (FoS) organisation, which organises the Dressed to Kilt fashion event during New York’s Tartan Week.

He claimed he had been expecting such a complaint and said it was the work of ‘petty small people’.

In a further twist, the Sunday Herald understands an Executive official said that he would prefer if Connery did not attend the New York Tartan Day parade in April.

The row threatens to sour this year’s Tartan Week, the US-based celebration of Scottish links with America. It also marks the latest chapter in the awful relationship between Connery and McConnell, whose mutual antipathy has tended to overshadow the annual US-Scottish celebration.

Baron’s astonishing claim follows a complaint lodged recently against FoS, a non-profit corporation set up to advance Scottish interests in the US, which has Connery as its honorary chairman.

The Sunday Herald understands a sponsor from last year’s event contacted New York State’s attorney general about the organisation’s status as a registered charity. She was said to be concerned that FoS, which is registered in California, was operating in New York without proper accreditation.

But Baron, the co-founder of FoS, said the complaint was a ‘politically motivated’ attempt to cause trouble for the charity. He said he felt the complainant had been ‘put up to something by somebody’, and he pointed the finger at the Executive.

‘Tell the Scottish Executive I’m real thrilled about this. I wouldn’t bet the family farm they weren’t involved. I have been expecting this for a couple of years.’

He added that the probe had been designed to cause maximum embarrassment: ‘It strikes me as odd that if somebody had a problem, why would they call the press? Petty small people can do petty small things’.

Connery is known to be scornful of the First Minister’s abilities, while McConnell’s aides have been unafraid to return the insults.

At Tartan Day in 2004, Connery enraged McConnell when he snubbed the First Minister in favour of a meeting with the then SNP leader John Swinney. An aide to McConnell then aggravated the row by saying the First Minister did not want to spend time with celebrities ‘on their way down’.

Geoffrey Scott Carroll, the Dressed to Kilt organiser, said he did not believe the complaint against FoS was legitimate: ‘It’s a nuisance complaint that we have to deal with.’’ He added that FoS had subsequently registered the charity in New York State.

Dress to Kilt, an evening of ‘fashion and fun’ at which McConnell wore his now infamous pinstripe kilt in 2004, will this year include a Vivienne Westwood fashion show.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive yesterday denied officials were involved in leaking the Friends of Scotland complaint.

‘The Scottish Executive is committed to supporting Dressed to Kilt. It is a great event that helps showcase what Scotland has to offer. Ministers have attended in the past and will again in the future. As in previous years, we are sponsoring the event. There is simply no truth in these allegations,’ he said.

Thanks to `Simon` for the alert.

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