Sturgeon urged to drop tycoon adviser over night at Tory fundraiser
FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to drop one of her top economic advisers after he attended a £25,000-a-head fundraising dinner for the Tories with Theresa May. Jim McColl, a billionaire tycoon who backed independence in 2014, was part of an elite group of businessmen who had access to the UK Prime Minister at the private event last week.
Patrick Harvie MSP, Scottish Greens’ co-convener, said: “The Scottish Government should reconsider his role on their Council of Economic Advisers.”
McColl said he did not pay to attend the dinner and added that he had been invited by a Tory donor he knows.
The Prime Minister was in Glasgow on Friday where she delivered a speech to the Scottish Tory party conference.
However, the Sunday Herald can reveal that May was the star turn at a highly-exclusive dinner held by a Tory fundraising group on Thursday.
The discrete supper was held at the home of Sir Jack Harvie, a businessman who has raised millions of pounds for the Tories through his Focus on Scotland (FoS) organisation.
His FoS dinners have either been large black-tie events or much smaller gatherings at his house in Mugdock, near Milngavie. Cash raised by FoS goes to the Tories.
It is understood between 10 and 15 business people were at the dinner – at a cost of up to £25,000 a head – as was Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson.
The big name at the dinner was tycoon McColl, a Monaco resident, who heads up a number of successful companies that operate around the globe.
Ahead of the 2014 referendum, the Clyde Blowers chairman was one of around 200 company bosses who signed a pro-independence letter, saying: “We are involved in business and entrepreneurship at different levels in Scotland and around the world. We believe independence is in the best interests of Scotland’s economy and its people.”
However, public statements suggest he has gone cooler on independence since the referendum.
He is also a member of the First Minister’s prestigious Council of Economic Advisers. Contacted by this newspaper yesterday, McColl said: “I was invited along by a Tory donor and I was intrigued to meet Theresa May and just listen to what she had to say. So I went along and it was a very interesting evening.”
He said he did not pay to attend the dinner: “I didn’t [pay]. I was invited.” He added: “I was a plus one.”
McColl also said he was “sad” to hear Harvie’s reaction, adding: “I and other business leaders are always open to meet any politician irrespective of party and will continue to do so to help influence and achieve the best outcomes for our economy.”
His presence at the dinner will inevitably fuel claims the billionaire is now open-minded about the country’s most prominent Unionist party.
A senior Scottish Tory source said: “We are stepping up our engagement with Scotland’s leading business figures as we seek to offer an alternative vision to this incompetent SNP government.”
In her conference speech yesterday, Davidson name-checked McColl and a college he has been backing: “[We want] more innovation and freedom in our education system – so entrepreneurs like Jim McColl are encouraged, not put off, from building more brilliant junior colleges for kids who would otherwise leave school with nothing.”
The Newlands college in Glasgow’s southside, backed by McColl, is a vocational school for young people who are not academic.
In January, Davidson praised the same initiative in a press release that “applauded” McColl.
John McGlynn, a successful entrepreneur and lifelong Tory who founded the Airlink Group, was also at the dinner. He also backed Yes in 2014.
An FoS spokesperson said: “The dinner you refer to was a Focus on Scotland (FoS) business group dinner. Business people attend FoS events regardless of their political allegiances. FoS is not interested and will never enquire about anyone’s politics. Politicians and business people welcome the opportunity to have such useful dialogue. FoS has always publicly declared its donations to the Conservative Party according to law. But business people still choose to attend its events regardless of their own preferred political choices.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Members of the Council of Economic Advisers are selected for their skills and experience.”