CAMPAIGNERS fighting to have the ancient Lindisfarne Gospels returned to their native North-East are furious after the British Library accused them of "regionalism gone mad."

They are hoping to mount a permanent display of the Gospels in the North-East, where they were created in the eight century and remained until the mid-1500s.

But internal emails between British Library officials reveal a lack of enthusiasm towards any long-term loan of the Gospels.

The book was drawn and illustrated to glorify the memory of St Cuthbert, whose body and cross are in Durham Cathedral.

Despite a campaign - backed by The Northern Echo - for the return of the "Book of St Cuthbert" starting in the 1960s, British Library staff have refused to accept the case for another North-East loan and accused activists of using the Gospels to achieve political aims.

Internal emails, received in response to a Freedom of Information request from The Journal newspaper, reveal that when the campaign was re-ignited in 2001, Colin Wight, web editor at the British Library, asked for background information as "the natives are getting restless in the North East".

And as talks restarted that year over the possibility of a loan, Dr Michelle Brown, then curator of illuminated manuscripts, emailed colleagues to say a meeting would have to go ahead "on the clear understanding that we're not going to talk them round by logic".

She said: "This is a political issue and one that they will continue to pursue single-mindedly, regardless, hence the inadvisability of compromise and prolonged dialogue when we simply can't go where they want us to.

"That having been said, by all means let's use it to complicate matters and as a gesture of politesse whilst clearly signalling that future discussions will be with dean and chapter of Durham."

Public Affairs Manager James O'Leary took a similar attitude to arranging meetings in 2006.

After a request from the Northern Ireland-born Gospel campaigner and Durham City MP Roberta Blackman-Woods for a meeting, Mr O'Leary emailed colleagues: "On balance, this will be a good opportunity for us to restate the conclusions of the condition report.

"MPs are not the best at reading lengthy documents and are experts at skipping precise details if political advantage can be gained."

Cultural Property Manager Oliver Urquhart also dismissed the campaign as a "one- dimensional" political concern.

He said: "I see no reason not to justify national collections.

"The (absurd) logical conclusion to the political argument is that Blackman-Woods goes back to North Ireland, the contents of all UK museums are emptied, etc., etc."

And in January 2006 John Byford, former head of the newspaper section of the British Library (and now head of modern collections), summed up the Library's view of the Gospels campaign by labelling it "regionalism gone mad".

In response last night, Ms Blackman-Woods said that the library had overlooked the huge support for the Gospels' return.

The MP said: "These emails demonstrate that the British Library is simply not aware of the broad-based nature of this campaign to have the Gospels returned on a temporary or permanent basis, and that as MPs we are the messengers for this swathe of support.

"We have been responsible and cautious in our campaign and have argued our case fairly and thoroughly.

"It is a great shame that it would appear that the Library have not approached our discussions with the same degree of seriousness."

She added: "I will be writing to the chair of the British Library Board for a full explanation."