A royal aide was responsible for inviting shamed sex pest Jordan Linden to the King’s Edinburgh garden party, we can reveal. Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire John Brown’s office invited a group of staff from the New Coach House pub to attend the royal gathering last week.
Brown is thought to drink in the Bellshill boozer, where the former SNP North Lanarkshire Council leader – who is under police investigation for an allegation of sexual assault – hosts karaoke nights after he quit his council job. The attendance of Linden, 29, at the event to thank those who made a positive contribution to their communities has caused uproar.
North Lanarkshire councillor Cammie McManus, who has waived his right to anonymity after claiming he was assaulted by Linden, said: “Linden’s brazenness over recent weeks and months is a real slap in the face to his alleged victims.
“You’d assume that there would be some sort of vetting process or mechanism in place for these types of events to scrutinise who is being invited. Questions need to be answered as to if, and why, they were overlooked here.
“In my many years as a councillor in North Lanarkshire, I have never met the Lord Lieutenant or any of her deputes and still to this day have no idea what they do as a job. If they are meant to represent the people of Lanarkshire, this shows how out of touch they are.”
The Lord Lieutenant and their deputes are representatives of the monarch in their local areas and are tasked with helping on royal visits. They are supposed to tell the King’s private office about issues in their area, help with royal garden parties and present and assess awards nominations.
The Lord Lieutenant is appointed by the monarch and approved by the PM, while the deputes are appointed by the lord lieutenant, currently Susan Haughey.
Linden left politics after claims of sexual harassment, grooming and assault were revealed by the Sunday Mail. The SNP lost control of the local authority to Labour.
He was photographed outside King Charles’s residence near Holyrood last Tuesday wearing a kilt and joined by others from the pub as well as Brown.
The annual garden party is attended by members of the public from across Scotland, particularly those who are seen to have contributed in a positive way to society and their communities.
Several attempts were made to contact Brown and Linden.
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