An MP has called for an apology after newly-released documents showed Margaret Thatcher’s spokesman suggested a North Sea blow out could cover up bad news.
The comments, made by the then PM’s press secretary Bernard Ingham, came five years before the Piper Alpha disaster, which killed 167 oil workers. The Downing Street files have revealed Mr Ingham flagged up potential media coverage of a protest organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and suggested an offshore accident could distract from it.
The files show Mr Ingham said: “Whether there was anything useful we can do to neutralise the television appeal of these demonstrations.
“They will secure less airtime and have less impact if something more newsworthy in television terms occurs – e.g. (to be brutal) a North Sea blow out; an assassination attempt on the Pope, etc; some awful tragedy.”
Aberdeen South MP Callum McCaig said the comments, released just days after MPs voted to renew the Trident nuclear weapons system based in Scotland, were “beyond distasteful”.
SNP Westminster energy spokesman Mr McCaig called on the Conservatives to apologise to the families of those who lost their lives in incidents in the oil and gas industry.
He said: “To speak flippantly of a ‘North Sea blow out’ in Scotland shows utter contempt for the lives and safety of the men and women who work offshore in the oil and gas industry every day. The disrespect shown to them, no matter how long ago, is utterly unacceptable.
“Most people consider offshore incidents to be something avoided at all costs, not to be joked about, and certainly not to be seen as a PR opportunity.”
The Conservatives failed to reply to requests for comment.