 | 'I think he should have his peerage taken off him. Peers who have been to jail should have their title removed.' Alastair Fenwick , who went to primary school with Lord Watson of Invergowrie, 30 th May 2006 |  |
| 'I think he should have his peerage taken off him. Peers who have been to jail should have their title removed.' Alastair Fenwick , who went to primary school with Lord Watson of Invergowrie, 30 th May 2006 | |
SHAMED fire-starting peer Lord Mike Watson of Invergowrie has been slammed by locals who say he's given their Perthshire village a "bad name".
The ex-Labour MSP was released on Tuesday from Edinburgh's Saughton Prison early after serving just half of his 16-month sentence for setting fire to curtains after a boozy awards ceremony.
But despite being forced to give up his £40,000-a-year job at Holyrood, the man who played a key role in banning fox hunting in Scotland has been allowed to keep his House of Lords position.
Now Invergowrie residents say itundefineds time he was stripped of the peerage undefined claiming he is bringing the village, which sits on Dundee's doorstep, into disrepute.
Invergowrie's SNP Councillor Peter Mulheron said it was time the peer "fell on his sword and resigned instead of constantly bringing the name of the village into disrepute".
He added: "Nobody in the village was consulted in the first place about him taking this title. We were just presented with a fait accompli.
"The honourable thing for him to do now is to cease using the name of the village and resign."
And he was backed by locals fed up with their village's name being brought into the scandal surrounding the ex-MSP.
Alastair Fenwick (57) went to primary school with Watson and said: "I have no idea how he got the name Lord Watson of Invergowrie.
"Fair enough if he had done something good for the village, but as far as I can see, all he has done is give it a bad name.
"I think he should have his peerage taken off him. Peers who have been to jail should have their title removed."
Watson was convicted of starting a fire which endangered lives at Edinburgh's Prestonfield House Hotel last September.
He had been a guest at the Scottish Politician of the Year Award ceremony on November 12, 2004, when staff refused to serve him more alcohol at around 2.30am.
During his trial he was described as being "drunk and acting bizarrely". He was then shown on CCTV footage setting fire to curtains in a reception area. The blaze caused £4,500 worth of damage.
After Watson was sentenced at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, he was expelled from the Labour Party and resigned from the board of Dundee United Football Club.
Villager Elizabeth Hodge (68) said Watson should apologise to the people of Invergowrie.
"Everyone is under pressure these days but we don't all go round setting fires," she said.
"He should apologise specifically to the town of Invergowrie. I appreciate he has made his apologies to everyone else but Invergowrie is a respectable place."
But expert Charles Mosley, editor-in-chief of society publication Debrett's, said villagers had little hope of having the title dropped.
He said there was not much disgruntled residents could do, apart from petitioning the Queen to deprive him of his title.
But he added: "I think she's got more on her plate than that.
"Lord Watson has put Invergowrie on the map, however unfortunately, and none of the people of Invergowrie want to take it off the map again.
"Only very naive people will assume that because a person called Lord Watson of Invergowrie has gone in for some fire-raising that the good people in Invergowrie are prone to arson themselves."
Return to home page