Lord admits starting fire at hotel

EDINBURGH - The political career of Lord Mike Watson, who pioneered the anti-hunting bill in the Scottish Parliament, was in ruins last night after he admitted deliberately starting a fire at an Edinburgh hotel.

The 56-year-old was caught on CCTV cameras setting fire to curtains at the luxury Prestonfield Hotel in November 2004 after attending the annual Scottish Politician of the Year Awards.

Yesterday the three-times married former minister, who was made a Life Peer in 1997, pleaded guilty to willful fire-raising when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Faced with the prospect of a prison sentence when his case returns to court in three weeks time the disgraced peer announced yesterday that he would resign from the Scottish Parliament, where he represents Glasgow for the Labour Party.

During the hearing Sheriff Katherine Mackie was shown CCTV footage of Lord Watson crouching down at the base of the hotel curtain which minutes later was enveloped with flames, filling the room with smoke.

Depute Fiscal Adrian Fraser, prosecuting, said Lord Watson had been drinking heavily that evening and had acted in a "hostile manner" towards a night porter earlier.

He said that at a private function for VIP guests following the awards the peer also "forcibly requested" more drink from a member of the bar staff, eventually being given an open bottle of wine to keep him quiet.

By the time fire broke out in the ground-floor reception of the hotel at around 2.15am most of the 400 guests who attended the function, including Scots peers and parliamentarians from Holyrood, Westminster and Europe, political journalists and lobbyists, had already left the party.

Although hotel staff managed to put out the fire without calling the fire brigade they alerted police after viewing a security tape which had recorded a kilted figure stooping close to the base of the curtain which caught fire moments later.

He was quickly identified as a suspect, but Lord Watson "categorically" denied any wrongdoing and claimed the stills of the CCTV footage did not show him doing anything wrong.

However, a fire expert, James Wood, claimed that the hotel occupants had been placed in "a potentially dangerous situation" from both the fire and the smoke produced by the blaze which is estimated to have caused damage to curtains, walls and ceiling of around £4,500 ($11,700).

Defence solicitor Paul Burns claimed that drink was not the only factor in the case and alluded to the pressure the career politician was under of being in public life.

"The events of this night are as incomprehensible to Mr Watson as they must be to the many people who have looked at them and puzzled over them," said Mr Burns.

- INDEPENDENT