Possible showdown passes off with smiles all round

IT was dubbed by some as ‘Showdown at Cricklecreek’; for others, it was simply the first time the former managing editor at the Daily Record – and now an editorial consultant at rivals, The Scottish Sun – had clapped eyes on his successor, recruited from, er, The Scottish Sun, albeit after a year-long sabbatical.

Last night, at a seminar on the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Conduct, held in Glasgow,

Maclolm Speed (formerly of the Record, now at the Sun) and Derek Stewart-Brown (formerly of the Sun, now at the Record) found themselves in the same room together for the first time since their effective job swap, Stewart-Brown having been assistant editor (news) at the Sun before taking time off to rear sheep and help run his wife’s restaurant.

Despite hopes of a frosty stand-off, it was never going to be anything but cordial, despite Stewart-Brown’s returning of a CD he inherited when taking ownership of Speed’s former company car.

The car – a gold-coloured Jaguar – came with a CD still in the player that Stewart-Brown describes as “Highland Cathedral with the volume full blast”.

On returning it, he popped into the player…. er, Marilyn Manson.