Ernie’s 100th birthday dram...from Prince Charles Former MP Luke dumped by No 10
It is not every day you get a present from royalty.
But that is what happened to Perthshire war hero Ernie Holmes on Friday.
Ernie, who turned 100 last month, received a bottle of whisky from Prince Charles to mark his centenary.
Lord Lieutenant of Perth and Kinross Stephen Leckie was on hand to present the gift at Kincarrathie House Care Home.
Ernie first came to Perth in 1941 to train as an elite pilot with 35 Squadron within No 8 (Pathfinder) Group RAF leading Lancaster bombers to the spot where they were to drop their bombs.
Five men died when Ernie’s Pathfinder was shot down over Holland in 1944. He and two others survived.
He evaded the Germans before being captured.
He returned to Perth a decorated hero of the skies after ending the war as a PoW and married local girl Irene Spinks in 1946.
A former Perthshire MP was sacked the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned from his controversial trip to Scotland last month.
The PM dismissed his top adviser on saving the Union, former Ochil and South Perthshire respresentative Luke Graham, after he was heavily criticised for visiting a Livingston vaccine plant at the centre of a COVID outbreak.
The PM visited the Valneva vaccine facility just 24 hours after a public health probe at the site, which uncovered 14 coronavirus cases.
Mr Graham, who was MP in Ochil and South Perthshire for two years until December 2019, had a role heading Downing Street’s Union unit charged with countering the push for a second independence referendum.
But the dismissal was confirmed last Wednesday after a Prime Minister spokesperson called him “a very valued member of staff ” two days prior.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said on Thursday that Mr Graham had “left his No 10 position”.
He said the union was an “incredibly important focus of the prime minister and the No 10 Union unit will continue to support him on that.”
The spokesman added: “As the prime minister has said himself, he thinks all parts of the union are stronger together and he will be and continue to be the voice of the majority of the Scottish people who voted to keep the UK together.
“He will always stand against those trying to separate the UK which is why it remains an important focus.”
In the Commons on Wednesday SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford blasted Mr Johnson for his “shocking error of judgement” in visiting the plant for a risky photoshoot.
Mr Graham has been replaced by Oliver Lewis, who was research director of the Vote Leave campaign and later joined the UK Government as an adviser on Brexit policy.