Mack puts boot into Labour in Paisley

'The prima facie maleficence in Renfrewshire Council alone warrants an inquiry. This once great town has become synonymous with sleaze and Tammany Hall practices. The Labour Party has demonstrably failed Paisley and the county of Renfrewshire. It has shown time and time again it is incapable of conducting any sort of meaningful inquiry, preferring to listen to a cabal who orchestrates whispering campaigns while publicly proclaiming the interests of the community.' Ex Labour Councillor Paul Mack.

Councillor at centre of smear campaign allegations accuses local MP's supporters of dirty tricks

By Jason Allardyce in the Scotsman 19 th August 1997

Giving his version of events for the first time since the death of the Paisley South MP Gordon McMaster, Paul Mack, who was criticised in the suicide note left by the MP, reveals the depth of the bitterness of the internecine fighting.

The Renfrewshire councillor claimed an independent inquiry, chaired by a senior member of the judiciary, was required "to lance the boil which has infected the body politic of Paisley for far too long".

Mr Mack, a controversial independent Renfrewshire councillor, also admitted telling journalists he had heard a rumour that Mr McMaster was gay and had AIDS.

But he claimed that he did not originate the rumour and that his conscience was clear.

The former deputy Labour leader on Renfrew District Council - who was expelled from the party after illegally standing as a Labour candidate at the unitary elections - condemned the role played by supporters of the Paisley North MP, Irene Adams, before and after Mr McMaster's death.

He accused her camp of making allegations of membership irregularities in her constituency and of drugs connections with the Paisley security firm FCB to win a battle for her political future.

Although the claims in relation to FCB led her to receive police protection after her family received threats, Mr Mack said they were made to smear Harry Revie, a director of the company who was challenging her to contest the Paisley North seat for Labour.

He alleged that the claims of membership irregularities were made to ensure that the constituency party, which could have selected Mr Revie, was suspended and that the membership were denied their right of a mandatory re-selection process for their prospective candidate.

Mr Mack also claimed that Mrs Adams was the first person who publicly juxtaposed Mr McMaster's name to AIDS, when she discussed the smear campaign with journalists after his death. He said the first time the rumours were given currency and circulation on any scale was when Mrs Adams leaked Mr McMaster's suicide note.

The councillor maintains that the deep split among Renfrewshire councillors stemmed from the failure of Labour stalwart Nancy Allison in 1992 to secure the provostship at a time when Labour only had 21 members out of a total of 45.

An opposition motion to nominate Willie Orr, a Labour councillor, was carried and Mr Mack alleges, councillors divided into two camps.

He says that he joined one which believed that the provost's post was simply ceremonial and did not affect the running of council services, instead of the Allison camp which insisted Labour members should have nothing to do with the running of the administration.

Mr Mack claims that led to the Allison camp moving to ensure the rebels were deselected, as he and five others were, ahead of the next round of council elections in 1995.

He alleges Mrs Allison's husband, Jimmy, who is a former senior Scottish Labour official, also made enemies because of his influence in determining the candidature of parliamentary constituencies and council wards.

He claims Mr Allison was against Tommy Graham, the Renfrewshire West MP who is also criticised in Mr McMaster's note but denies smearing his former colleague.

This stemmed from the decision of Mr Graham's election agent, Mr Revie, a councillor, to stand against Irene Adams after the death of her husband prompted the Paisley North by- election in 1990.

Calling for an independent hearing, Mr Mack said: "The prima facie maleficence in Renfrewshire Council alone warrants such an inquiry. This once great town has become synonymous with sleaze and Tammany Hall practices.

"The Labour Party has demonstrably failed Paisley and the county of Renfrewshire.

"It has shown time and time again it is incapable of conducting any sort of meaningful inquiry, preferring to listen to a cabal who orchestrates whispering campaigns while publicly proclaiming the interests of the community.

"All Labour members are gagged, bound by some quasi- masonic secrecy, warned by those few who have wielded power locally for years that if they don't do their bidding the same fate will befall them as those who have refused to bend a knee."

Confronting the allegations that he smeared Mr McMaster, Mr Mack said he was approached by a reporter from the Sunday Times shortly before the general election and asked if he had heard the rumour that the MP was gay and had AIDS.

"I said yes, I had heard that rumour and that is exactly what I told Gordon Thomson [an Evening Times reporter also criticised in the suicide note].

"I certainly was not the author.

"I went on to say it would strike me as slightly improbable given the fact it would be the first case in medical history where the AIDS victim actually put on weight."

He also denies claims that he had sent poison pen letters to the MP before he died, maintaining his correspondence, which he was prepared to make available for inspection, was at worst occasionally strongly worded.

He added: "I just can't imagine what his mum and dad must be going through.

"If there's anything I feel sorry about it is for these parents."