TORY grandee Lord Forsyth has apologised to X-man actor Alan Cumming after the pair clashed on BBC TV's Question Time programme.
Mr Cumming accused Lord Forsyth of xenophobia after he was questioned about his support for Scottish independence despite taking US citizenship.
When challenged by Lord Forsyth, Mr Cumming said he was a British citizen as well. He said: "What is the big deal – I'm a joint citizen". He asked the audience: "What about xenophobia ladies and gentlemen?"
Lord Forsyth told the actor that people like him and tax-exile Sean Connery would "do anything to get Scotland independent except live here and put up with the consequences".
Mr Cumming tweeted yesterday: "Michael Forsyth just apologised to me for his xenophobic comment during the recording! Nice to know he realised how cheap it was I suppose."
Lord Forsyth said he wanted to make a point of apologising after the show because he realised Mr Cumming was visibly upset.
He added: "What Mr Cumming and others have to realise is that when the Yes campaign was launched a lot of the leading lights, such as Sean Connery, who signed the declaration do not live or pay taxes in Scotland and will not have to live with the consequences of separation if it happens.
"That is the point I was making and that was the context. To suggest that my comments were xenophobic is simply ridiculous."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article