"Bridget McConnell and Boyle fell out almost immediately after the commission was set up (a remarkable feat given that he was thought to have been Jack McConnell's personal choice for the post). Scotland's First Lady and Cosla had demanded they be able to veto any recommendations which the commission put forward - but were knocked back by the then Culture Minister Frank McAveety.
And while McAveety recommended that Bridget McConnell sit on the commission, Boyle refused, believing that having the wife of the First Minister on his panel would lead to claims of a political stitch-up. Excluded and marginalised, Glasgow's arts chief thus "took umbrage". The local authorities were being marginalised by Boyle, local authority chiefs claimed. The commission was failing to grasp the grassroots work they undertake.
Sources close to the commission claim she decided to hit back - setting up a 'rival' culture review body under Cosla's wing, which sat independently of Boyle's commission. Boyle quickly lost patience, fearing that the Cosla group would undermine his own findings. One insider said earlier this year: "Bridget took the view that her group should work independently of the commission. Others were trying to take a more reasonable line, but to a great extent she basically said: 'No'.
"It was just a personal thing. She is a very powerful person in the arts world and this is the way she decided she wanted to run it," the source continued."
All very incestuous.
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