SHAME OF THRONES
GAME of Thrones star Rose Leslie’s father has sparked fury by saying political rivals who fight Tory welfare cuts are crying “crocodile tears”. Castle-owning clan chief Sebastian Arbuthnot-Leslie made the remark as an Aberdeenshire Council debate on the rollout of universal credit heard it would “cause hardship” for Scots in the run-up to Christmas. In callous comments worthy of the most heartless rulers in the popular US drama, millionaire and Tory councillor Leslie said: “I’ll make this short and sweet. “As a man who has stood for the European Parliament twice, stood for Westminster and understands national politics, I feel it a great honour to represent Aberdeenshire as a councillor. Can we stick to council matters in this chamber? And can we keep petty, national politics to MSP and MP elections?
“It’s not good enough for my colleagues across the chamber… to cry crocodile tears when they’ve had a Government since 2007 in Scotland that’s taken money from our budget.”
The Record has exposed how the bungled rollout of universal credit is forcing families into hardship.
Councils across Scotland are having to spend millions on crisis loans to help desperate people in arrears.
Aberdeenshire East SNP MSP Gillian Martin said last night: “It’s clear that Sebastian Leslie thinks a lot of himself and not a lot of anyone else.
“He’s willingly blind to the harm that his party’s policies are causing if he thinks universal credit is nothing more than ‘petty politics’.
“The fact is that callous Tory welfare cuts will drive 400,000 more children into poverty. There are no crocodile tears on this issue.
“Seb Leslie is an out-oftouch Tory toff, pontificating on poverty from the comfort of his plush castle home.
“But the reality is that there are many in our own communities who haven’t been dealt such an easy hand and rely on food banks just to survive.”
The chieftain of Clan Leslie and his family lived in the ancestral home Lickleyhead Castle when Rose was a child.
In 2013, it went on the market for offers over £1.35million. In February last year, Rose’s parents were reported to have moved back into the castle, but it is now listed on Airbnb.
Rose, 30, who is one of five siblings, first came to TV viewers’ attention as ambitious housemaid Gwen in Downton Abbey before her breakthrough role in Game of Thrones.
She played wildling Ygritte, who became the lover of one of the main characters, Jon Snow.
Ygritte often told him: “You know nothing, Jon Snow.”
Rose has campaigned for the Tories in Aberdeenshire at recent elections.