A***hole Blair making a legacy from Iraq graves: Sean `007 Connery

Former James Bond star Sean Connery has accused outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair of making his legacy from graves in Iraq.

London, May 14 : Former James Bond star Sean Connery has accused outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair of making his legacy from graves in Iraq.

In his first interview since the Holyrood election, Connery described Blair as an "a***hole", and also called on Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander to resign over the voting fiasco, which saw almost 150,000 ballot papers spoiled.

Speaking from his home in the Bahamas, Connery described the conduct of the election as an "embarrassment".

Connery told Scotland on Sunday: "I think [Douglas] Alexander should resign because he was warned. Alexander is not resigning, he's not even apologising."

Referring to the decision to hold council and Parliament votes together, he added: "No other place would attempt to do the two on the same day. It's a real, horrendous mistake."

Connery said of the outcome, in which the SNP won by 47 seats to Labour's 46: "It was an amazing result considering the Prime Minister and Jack McConnell were up there, and all the tabloids on full blast.

They had all the ammunition stacked against them, and they've come through, the SNP. The thing is that they [Labour] pushed for a fear element into it."

He added: "Everybody got blinded by the Union issue. It wasn't the Union issue. It was a change of government they wanted. Asked if McConnell was betraying democratic principles by not letting Salmond get on with it, Connery said: "This is it completely. If you were asking the will of the people now, that's exactly what they would want.

They would say, 'Let them get in, we're at least on the right track'. If they [Labour] start with a sabotage situation like now they can't blame anybody but themselves."

"The problem is that Labour has been too long in power. They are totally fossilised. For 50 years, until the opening of this Parliament, we had nothing but a Labour majority in Scotland, regardless of what happened in the rest of the UK."

On the issue of independence, Connery remains convinced a referendum could still take place with or without the support of the Liberal Democrats.

Asked what role he might play in the new Scotland, Connery replied: "For me it's to get the [Scottish] voice heard.

Connery agreed he might become a roving, cultural ambassador for Scotland but he also made a plea for fairness towards the SNP, particularly from the media.

ANI