Political knives are out for me, says Connery

THE ACTOR Sean Connery yesterday described the decision to deny him a knighthood in the New Year honours list as "purely political". Speaking from his home in the Bahamas, he also suggested that he had been the victim of "character assassination".

The saga began on Sunday when it was alleged that Connery's knighthood had been blocked following the intervention of Donald Dewar, the Secretary of State for Scotland, and one of Dewar's junior ministers, Sam Galbraith. Connery had been put forward for the honour early last year by Virginia Bottomley, the then heritage secretary. The recommendation was passed to the Scottish Office and the then Scottish secretary, Michael Forsyth, approved it. However, when Labour came to power, the process had to be repeated, and this is when Dewar is said to have stepped in.

Initially it was believed that the decision was taken as a result of Connery's longstanding and vocal support for the Scottish National Party. Only last week it was revealed that he had donated pounds 200,000 to the party over five years. However, unnamed "government sources" have suggested alternative reasons, such as Connery's tax exile status as well as remarks he once made about violence towards women.

"I am fed up being told I don't pay taxes. I pay taxes more than most people in the UK," Connery told the BBC Today programme. "I don't like the turn it has taken now when they drag up something from the past about my violence towards women."

Connery provoked considerable controversy in 1993 when he told Vanity Fair magazine: "Sometimes there are women who take it to the wire. They are looking for the ultimate confrontation - they want a smack. It's much more cruel to damage someone psychologically. To slap a woman isn't the cruellest thing you can do."

However, Connery yesterday denied "absolutely" that he had ever said it was acceptable to hit women but admitted his comments might have been "stupid". In his opinion, the matter was purely political. "Either they or I are hoisted on their own petard," he said, referring to Messrs Dewar and Galbraith, "because if they want to do a character assassination on me, then that's their way of justifying saying they should not give it to him. That must be the purpose, I don't know. You must ask them."

When asked about the controversy on the Scottish radio station Clyde News yesterday, Mr Dewar said: "We cannot and never do explain about the honours." After saying decisions were not his "specific responsibility", he admitted that "we are sometimes consulted".

Connery, who has "Scotland Forever" tattooed on his right arm, has long been a fervent SNP supporter. In November 1996 he appeared in a party political broadcast on their behalf. His theme was the Stone of Destiny and the broadcast was deemed the party's most successful, with nearly 600 people applying for membership immediately after it

In April last year, Connery wrote a letter of support for the campaign for Scottish independence. "Everywhere I go in the world, people want to know about Scotland and why we tolerate our affairs being run by someone else's government," he said. "If the SNP wins, so does Scotland - it's as simple as that." Connery's portrait appears, together with that of party leader Alex Salmond, on the SNP's homepage on the Internet.

At a tribute to the star in New York last May, Harrison Ford, said: "Sean does everything from Arab sheikhs to dragons with a Scots accent. As an actor, he honours his homeland every time he opens his mouth."

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the controversies

In 1993 Connery was subjected to allegations of racism following the release of the film version of Michael Crichton's novel `Rising Sun', which dealt with the unscrupulous nature of Japanese corporations. It was reported that he had even received death threats, forcing him to hire two bodyguards.

Last year, the actor who has always described himself as a one-woman man, had to endure tabloid revelations of an 11-month affair with Helle Byrn, a Danish journalist 23 years his junior. "At the height of passion, he would repeat the same words in a foreign language," she said. "It sounded like Arabic or possibly Gaelic."