OK, I had an affair.. but it was religious bigots who nearly ended my

FIRST Minister Jack McConnell has revealed how sectarianism has put a terrible strain on his marriage to his Catholic wife.

McConnell, the son of a Church of Scotland elder, confessed he has been tormented by bigot thugs since he wed his Catholic wife Bridget in 1990.

The couple met while he was a councillor on Stirling Council in the 1980s and she worked in its leisure services department.

In an in-depth interview on BBC Radio Scotland, the First Minister spoke of his contempt for sectarianism and how that hatred has pressurised his marriage.

And he confessed that the vicious taunting he and his wife have received because of their mixed marriage comes from both sides of the religious divide.

He said: "When I was young I didn't really understand the automatic bile that was around between people who seemed to me to have everything else in common apart from religion.

"But also, I've seen that they've used the fact we've both come from different traditions against me because I was married to someone called Bridget. Therefore I must be a Catholic.

"Or they have something against me because I wasn't a Catholic."

Mr McConnell also revealed how his experience with sectarianism has dramatically altered his beliefs.

He said: "I now have a lot of doubts about spiritual beliefs being central to peoples' lives.

"I now conduct my life based on values and maybe put emphasis on the practical side of life. I'm no longer driven by a more spiritual side of belief.".

Mr McConnell also believes he is more famous for suffering a fall on an icy Edinburgh street than he is for leading the Scottish Parliament.

The First Minister and former Stirling Council leader required three stitches above his left eye after he slipped outside his official residence, Bute House.

"The incident on the steps was just incredible. I looked a real mess," he said.

"From the next day, even to this day, the first thing they say to me is how's the eye - people from all walks of life.

"The first thing Prince Charles said to me when I met him just after the Parliament had reconvened was, 'I see you've got your scar away now'. It was just incredible.

"That can be frustrating. You think you're doing things which are good for the country, but the only thing anyone remembers is that fall."

In 2001, Mr McConnell's family was almost ripped apart when his wife found out he'd been having a long-standing affair - from his lover.

Mr McConnell and Scottish Labour Party Press officer Maureen Smith had been seeing each other for seven years before the relationship became public.

But he told Radio Scotland in his interview that his marriage to Bridget, now the pounds 100,000-a-year head of Glasgow City Council's Culture and Leisure Services Department, has become stronger.

He said: "At that time I betrayed her. We've been very honest with each other about that then and now. It has in some ways strengthened our marriage and our connection with each other.

"I hope that as a result, not just Bridget and I, but also our kids, as a family will remain strong for a very long time.

"We spent a long time talking and working on that together as couples do in those situations.

"There are couples and families out there that have secrets nobody will ever know about and who have maybe worked them out.

"Whatever life-choices people make, whatever difficult decisions, I hope when they make the choice to work something out, they can make their relationship benefit from what they have put in.

"In the same way that we have from the work that we put in."

The First Minister also admitted he and his wife made a conscious decision not to have children after they wed in 1990. The introduction of more children to the family, he admitted, could have unearthed problems and made his new family "dysfunctional".

And he didn't wish to undermine the family base that he had slowly built up with Bridget's children from her first marriage - Hannah, 24, a researcher in the House of Commons, and Mark, 20, a student at Dundee University - by having more children.

He adopted them both legally in 1991.

"I had assumed the responsibility for two young people who I thought needed me and who mattered an awful lot to me," he said.

"I felt it would be a bit dysfunctional and also a bit of a challenge for there to be new children in this family.

"I felt we were developing a close family relationship and they wanted and certainly needed my full attention and I made a conscious decision that I didn't want any more children.

"I wanted them to know very clearly that I wanted to be their dad and that they could regard me as their dad.

"I didn't want a third or fourth child that was different in any way from them because they had come from the marriage between Bridget and I.

"I've never regretted it. I love them both very much. They're very special. They've done very well and I'm very proud of them."

McConnell, 43, was born in Irvine but raised on a sheep farm on the Isle of Arran. He left to attend the University of Stirling where he gained a teaching qualification.

After graduation he became a maths teacher and in 1984, at the age of 24, was elected to Stirling District Council where he served until 1992. During his eight-year tenure he became treasurer and was elected leader of the ruling Labour administration in 1990.

As general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party between 1992 and 1998, he earned a reputation as a shrewd operator who could handle media attention. He was appointed finance minister in Donald Dewar's first coalition government following devolution.

However, his blackest hour soon descended in the form of "Lobbygate" - a scandal rooted in Mr McConnell's time at Beattie Media.

A newspaper alleged it had evidence that the company's executives were offering preferential access to Scottish ministers and openly boasted that Mr McConnell was a former employee of the firm.

A Parliamentary investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing and Mr McConnell's reputation recovered. He was elected to his second term as First Minister this year.

STARK Talk airs on BBC Radio Scotland on Sunday June 15 at 11.30am.

news@sundaymirror.co.uk

Copyright 2003 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.