HOLYROOD Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick has been backed in her tough stance on MSPs who play fast and loose with the rules of the Scottish Parliament.
Previous Presiding Officers Alex Fergusson and George Reid have supported her severe rebuke of Alex Salmond's aide Joan McAlpine for failing to turn up to ask a question in the chamber.
Her tardiness, because she was having lunch with the First Minister, was the sixth breach of Holyrood protocol in a year by Ms McAlpine, MSP for the South of Scotland and Parliamentary Liaison Officer to Mr Salmond.
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