Connery details SNP funding

Connery details SNP funding

Sean Connery funded the SNP through an offshore account

Sir Sean Connery has revealed that he helped finance the Scottish National Party (SNP) for six years through an offshore bank account.

In an interview with The Herald newspaper on Friday, the 72-year-old actor said that he deposited £750,000 in the account in 1995.

The interest, which amounted to about £5,000 a month, was given to fund the party's fight for independence.

During 2001, the arrangement came to an end when the Labour government introduced legislation which outlawed such practices.

In the interview, Sir Sean also confirmed that he has recorded radio and television broadcasts for the SNP's campaign in the run-up to the Scottish parliamentary elections on 1 May.

"In the recordings, I say that for me the big picture of Scotland is nothing less than equality with England," he told the paper.

War sceptic

"A Scotland that makes her own decisions, a sovereign state that will be a voice in Europe and around the world."

The Oscar-winning actor also said Prime Minister Tony Blair has gone down in his estimations.

He said: "I met Blair before he was prime minister and I liked him.

"I don't like him so much now. He's distant. He's detached."

On the current international crisis over Iraq, the former Bond star expressed doubt about the case for war.

He added: "You had to believe that they (the Americans) had such justifiable evidence that they would play it like an ace. They haven't."