The meetings between Scotland’s business minister Paul Wheelhouse and Raytheon, a manufacturer of, among other things, bombs now falling on Yemen, are undoubtedly off-brand for the Scottish National Party. For years, the party has been aligned with anti-intervention movements, from opposition to Iraq, opposition to Trident, and the rather lacklustre cry of “bairns not bombs” when sending British forces to Syria seemed like a real possibility.
The Scottish government has already denied the Sunday Mail’s accusation of “gross hypocrisy” (it also calls the suggestion that taxpayer money ended up funding the manufacture of munitions “false”). It says the meeting with “Raytheon, a major employer in Fife” was published on the government’s website in June 2018, and the aim was to talk about opportunities outside defence. “How do we encourage companies to ‘turn spears into ploughshares’ if we don’t agree to even speak to them about diversification when asked?” Wheelhouse demanded on Twitter. “Damned by the BBC/Lab/Greens/SundayMail if you do. Damned by Co./BBC/Lab/Unions/hundreds of workers if you don’t. Welcome to Government.”
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