WITH an election nigh and the Tories especially toxic in Scotland, LibDem leader Willie Rennie was desperate to avoid being photographed with David Cameron when the PM visited Holyrood on Thursday.

"That's the last thing I want," he confessed to Unspun beforehand.

Alas! Just when he thought he was safe, a lift opened and out strode the PM and clocked him.

With cameras nearby, a terrified Rennie hugged his takeaway lunch to his chest and pretended to be unable to shake hands, much to the PM's bafflement.

Such are the friendly ways of Coalition.

JIM Murphy is a mad Celtic fan, but he's also a politician and tries not to upset other sides.

So when chatting at a photo call last week, he was aghast to realise a dig at Rangers had been recorded.

When a Dundee follower said he wanted neither of the "Glasgow Two" to prosper, Murphy laughed: "Well you're ok about Rangers not winning the title. So you've got half your wish."

Unspun's tape continues: "Oh no, you're recording this. Ya bugger!"

You'd think after Gordon Brown's famous "bigoted woman" incident, Labour leaders would be more careful...

THE spin doctor's phrase "coalicous" to describe the Tory-Lib Dem coupling never really took off but the issue of evel appears to be widening the rifts. This week former Lib Dem defence minister Nick Harvey accused the Tories of "licking their lips" at thought of evel allowing the right wing to rule forever at Westminster. "Sabre rattling" was another choice phrase. Can the two parties have fallen out?

THE Tories may no longer be the party of the hang 'em and flog 'em brigade when it comes to justice.

In a week that John Swinney bowed to pressure from the right and passed on a George Osborne tax cut by revising his proposals for a duty on property transactions, could Ruth Davidson be preparing to outflank her rivals on the left?

In the foreword to her party's pamphlet on law and order, published this week, she pledged to "fight hard for a justice system that, in our view, often seems to provide offenders with more rights than victims."

A clumsily worded sentence, perhaps. Although when it was pointed out to one Tory insider, they remarked: "Well, it doesn't seem to have done the SNP any harm".

TWITTER can be a minefield for politicians, just ask Emily Thornberry. But one MSP showed this week how it should be done.

Rising star Humza Yousaf, the SNP's minister for external affairs, made MEP David Coburn look more than a little foolish - not that UKIP's man in Scotland needs any help in that regard.

"You are a British citizen, don't forget that" Coburn told Humza, in response to an innocent post about the Scottish Government's inclusive approach to Muslims. "And you're also a European citizen don't forget!" the MSP hit back, spotting a clear open goal.

Clearly not willing to accept defeat, Coburn wrote: "I don't seem to remember an EU symbol on my Passport".

"Ermm this is awkward..." replied the MSP, alongside a picture of a passport headed with the offending words 'European Union'.

'I said symbol' cried Coburn, as Twitter collectively declared a Humza victory by knockout.