CITY council chiefs under fire over attempts to stop the Evening News using "unflattering" pictures of them have hit back – by accusing former council leader Ewan Aitken of being even more vain.
The council's photographer took new pictures of leader Jenny Dawe, Lord Provost George Grubb and education leader Marilyne MacLaren and – unusually – our picture editor was asked to delete older photos.
Outgoing Labour group leader Councillor Aitk
en was among those to criticise the move.
But today SNP deputy council leader Steve Cardownie said Cllr Aitken had no right to talk, after it emerged £400 of taxpayers' money was spent on photos of him.
At tomorrow's full council meeting, it is understood councillors will be told that the total cost of taking the new pictures of Cllrs Dawe, Grubb, and MacLaren amounted to just £26.91.
In contrast, a council spokeswoman today confirmed that while Cllr Aitken was education leader of the previous Labour administration sessions with a freelance photographer – at a cost of around £200 each time.
Councillor Cardownie said: "If the Lib Dems want to update their photos, that's a matter for them.
"But either Ewan Aitken has a short memory, or thinks council officials have a short memory, because it would appear his own vanity has cost the council £400."
Cllr Aitken acknowledged he had had his photograph taken as education leader. He said he had not set up the photo sessions and was not aware the council was using a freelance photographer.
He added: "The council uses photographs we take all the time for our own publications.
"The point is I never asked the Evening News to delete all its photographs of me and use only the ones the council provided.
"That is clearly the action of people who are embarrassed about what they've done."
No trace of the professional shots of Cllr Aitken could be found and it is unclear if they were ever sent to the Evening News.
It is not common practice for public relations staff to ask for old pictures to be deleted. But the most recent snaps of the Lib Dem councillors were sent to the Evening News by a PR official, who said she would "appreciate" if these pictures could be used from now on. Insiders claimed this was an attempt to stop the News printing "unflattering" photographs of Cllr MacLaren, taken during a recent interview.
The full article contains 405 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
