Alex Salmond was accused of putting his ego ahead of the interests of Scotch whisky workers yesterday after it was claimed hat he had withdrawn from a meeting with the head of Diageo in order to appear on a lunchtime TV politics show.

Diageo confirmed that the First Minister had not attended a hastilyarranged midday meeting with Paul Walsh, the company's chief executive, which Mr Salmond himself had requested earlier in the day.

The two were due to discuss the company's controversial plan to close a packaging plant in Kilmarnock and a grain distillery at Port Dundas in Glasgow, with the loss of 900 jobs.

Instead, Mr Salmond, who was in London, appeared on BBC Two's Daily Politics during which he drew the winner of a competition organised by the programme. Angus Robertson, the leader of the SNP group at Westminster and the MP for Moray, met Mr Walsh instead.

Opposition parties and unions yesterday condemned Mr Salmond. Unite, which represents the 900 Diagoe workers, described the First Minister's decision to appear on TV as “disgraceful and petty”.

John Quigley, Scottish regional officer for Unite, told The Times: “The jobs and livelihoods of 900 workers and their families are more important than Alex Salmond's ego. There is absolutely no excuse for this behaviour and we will be interested to hear the First Minister's explanation.”

The controversy erupted as politicians of all parties continued to campaign for Diageo to reconsider its plan to restructure its operations in Scotland. Opponents of the company's plan say that the closures will break the link between Johnnie Walker, the biggest seller and best-known whisky in the world, and its roots in Kilmarnock where the packaging plant has been based for 189 years.

The First Minister's official spokesman claimed that no definite meeting had been scheduled with Mr Walsh before Mr Salmond arrived at the BBC in London and that the first the SNP leader had been aware of a possible meeting was when he was about to go on air. But this was contradicted by a spokesman for Diageo who said that a time slot in Mr Walsh's diary had been found to accommodate the First Minister and that a call had been made by the company to Mr Salmond's office at 10.45am - 45 minutes before the BBC programme went on air.

“The First Minister may not have been aware of it but we had made an arrangement with his office that there would be a time slot”, the Diageo spokesman added.

Iain Gray, the Labour leader at Holyrood, said that Mr Salmond was guilty of “grandstanding”.

“If he was so keen to meet the Diageo chief executive he should have fulfilled the appointment instead of sending along someone else,” he added. “It would seem Alex Salmond thought he had got a better offer to appear on television and took that instead of lobbying on behalf of Diageo workers in Kilmarnock and Glasgow. It is obvious what his priorities are and not the choice a First Minister should make.”

Mr Salmond had originally arranged to meet Mr Walsh next week when the latter returned from a trip to the Far East. Mr Walsh had already arranged to meet Jim Murphy, the Scottish Secretary yesterday.

Afterwards, Mr Murphy said that Diageo would consider alternatives, drawn up by Scottish Enterprise, to shutting its plant at Kilmarnock. He added that the Diageo chief executive had promised to provide Scottish Enterprise with information to help with this.

A spokesman for the First Minister described the criticism of Mr Salmond as “mischief making” and said that a “key meeting” had been agreed between Mr Walsh and the First Minister for later this month. “That is when the First Minister will present the joint campaign's alternative business plan to Diageo, which the company has agreed to consider,” the spokesman added.

“Angus Robertson was able to take up the offer of an impromptu meeting with Mr Walsh, which gave him the opportunity to put forward the concerns about Diageo's direction.”

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