IT'S a murky tale of cycling and spin, gold and base metal. The SNP last night stood accused of a dirty tricks operation to gag Chris Hoy following his triumph at the Beijing Olympics.
Hoy's triple gold win turned sour immediately after the Games when a Scottish Government minister said there should be a Scotland team, only for the cyclist to brand the idea "ridiculous".
Scotland on Sunday can today reveal allegations that an SN
P spin doctor desperately tried to kill off the story by telling the UK's biggest press agency that Hoy had been deliberately misquoted and was not critical of the idea of a Scotland team.
New details have also emerged about the extent to which the row upset Hoy. The cyclist was stunned by the reaction to his comments and is understood to have worried about how he would be received on the open-top bus tour around his home city of Edinburgh.
In the event, thousands of people turned out to give a rousing reception to both him and his fellow Scots Olympians. And last week Hoy, who has made clear he supports a Scottish team if it is given the right support and preparation, was among the medal winners enjoying the adulation of crowds in London.
But the fallout from the row continues, two months after the cyclist returned home in triumph. It has now emerged that one of Alex Salmond's senior press officers, Will McLeish, called the Press Association in a bid to kill off the story. He is said to have called the agency to claim Hoy's words had been "made up" by the journalist who interviewed him.
Documentary and other evidence obtained by this newspaper confirms that the national press agency was contacted by McLeish and told the quotes were untrue despite a recording of the interview between Richard Moore and Chris Hoy proving the cyclist disparaged the idea of a Scottish team.
The row started after the Games when SNP Sports Minister Stewart Maxwell declared that a Scottish team at the Olympics "was the future", comparing Scotland's potential as a small, talented country to the achievements of multiple medal-winning Jamaica.
Hoy told Moore: "I think before anything can be discussed they would have to look at the facilities and resources that are being put into sport in the first place. At the moment, we don't have an international facility for cycling. We don't have anything in place. For him (Maxwell] to think about calling for that at this stage would be ridiculous."
In his subsequent call to the Press Association, McLeish insisted the reports were inaccurate and that the quotes from Hoy had been fabricated.
McLeish also wrongly said that Moore was Hoy's publicist. The SNP's chief spokesman, Kevin Pringle, replied to a complaint from Moore, saying: "Neither I nor anyone acting on my behalf denied the veracity of Chris Hoy's comments as sourced by you."
McLeish last night agreed he had spoken to the agency and that he had mentioned Moore's close links to Hoy in the conversation, but he vigorously denied that he had said Hoy's comments were "made up".
He said the SNP press team only got involved because they objected to the "interpretation" of Hoy's comments, insisting the athlete was not objecting to the idea of a Scottish Olympic team but pointing out that he believed it would not be feasible at present when training facilities were not adequate.
McLeish added that he had rung up the news agency in question to clarify the context of the remarks. "The only intention I had speaking… was to set out the difference between cutting down a Scottish Olympic team, and saying that such a team would require more facilities and training, which we agree with."
But in an interview with this newspaper last week, Maxwell continued to question the truth of Moore's reporting, insisting Hoy's remark about a Scottish team being "ridiculous" was erroneous. "Both I and Chris Hoy agreed that he never said that," said Maxwell.
A spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party said: "Chris Hoy has made it quite clear again last week on the BBC that he is a proud Scot who was also proud to represent Britain. This was something that the SNP couldn't stomach. As a result they got involved in petty and churlish spin at the time of the Beijing Games."
Hoy declined to comment.
A short history of spinJo Moore, a special adviser to the department of transport, was forced to apologise after sending an e-mail on September 11, 2001, suggesting to colleagues it was a good day to "bury" bad news.
She came under scrutiny again in February 2002, after claims that she proposed bad news be released on the day of Princess Margaret's funeral.
Downing Street was again accused of "burying bad news" in December 2006, when a long-awaited report on Princess Diana's death was unveiled on the day Tony Blair was questioned over the cash-for-honours allegations. The PM's spokesman told reporters that he did not expect Blair to be questioned that day. It later emerged that he was being interviewed in Downing Street at the time.
David Cameron tried to present a green image by cycling to work last year. Then it emerged that he had been followed by a chauffeur-driven car carrying his briefcase.
The Tory leader also tried to promote his concern for the environment by having a rooftop turbine installed on his £1.1m house in north Kensington. He denied it was a stunt, but was forced to take it down after neighbours complained that it had breached planning rules.
From drinks ban to poll pledgesAUGUST 2008: SNP backs up its policy of a ban on drinking under the age of 21 by pointing to successful trials across Scotland. But Professor Sheila Bird, vice-president of the Royal Statistical Society, said the pilots weren't reliable.
APRIL 2008: With Salmond attacked over his links to Donald Trump's application to build a golf course, Labour MSPs claim SNP spin doctors set out to "denigrate" the Holyrood committee that held an inquiry into the matter.
FEBRUARY 2008: SNP plays down all references to independence. SNP guidelines issued to the Scottish Executive's communications team list the terms they can use – but fail to mention "independence". Instead, press officers are told to subliminally promote separation by constantly comparing Scotland with independent nations and by tackling subjects reserved to Westminster. They are also ordered not to "go on" about Scotland's problems.
AUGUST 2007: SNP accused of mounting "the biggest spin operation we have seen since Torvill and Dean" after it was accused of abandoning a series of key election pledges 100 days after gaining office.
The full article contains 1133 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
