IF it’s budget time at Holyrood, it's also schmoozing time. We hear Finance Secretary Derek Mackay was recently treated to a posh business breakfast at Edinburgh’s Hotel Du Vin by one Tory-tinted lobbying firm. A client wanted to bang on about investment in the railways and ScotRail’s performance. Well, we could all moan about that. Mind you, this client was the franchise holder, Abellio. So Del Boy probably got badgered for more cash.
WE suspect Mr Mackay will savour the budget debate more than any brekkie however, particularly the moment Labour’s Neil Findlay unwisely took his intervention. “I can tell Neil Findlay what he is going to say, because I have a copy of his speech,” Mr Mackay said. “He sent it to the Scottish ministers!” For once the gobby Corbynite appeared dumbstruck. “Members will know my computing skills,” he sighed amid the laughter.
TORY Murdo Fraser also accused one Green MSP of being a sook. “Andy Wightman wrote a book called ‘Who Owns Scotland’,” Murdo roared. “The question today is: who owns Andy Wightman? The answer is Derek Mackay.” At which the SNP benches pointed to millionaire Tories Alexander Burnett and Sir Edward Mountain, who really do own swathes of Scotland. Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham was so exercised by the hypocrisy, she literally fell off her seat.
SO, farewell then, Andrew ‘Two Lobsters’ Liddle, the seafood-loving bon viveur who somehow became a Scottish Labour spindoctor. Never one for restraint, he had his second leaving bash near Holyrood on Thursday, followed by whisky and port into the small hours at his Tony Blair-themed flat. As his new employer is the US government, he tells Unspun his next task is to puff through all the Cuban cigars in his £100 humidor with chums lest they raise any eyebrows. What a true champion of ‘for the many, not the few’.
GALL of the week award goes to Tory Douglas Ross. At PMQs, the Moray MP asked Theresa May about devastating cuts at “SNP-led Moray Council”. As Mr Ross and his constituents know, the SNP only recently took over the authority. Its finances were run into the ground during six years of flaky Tory-Independent administrations. Mr Ross is also a part-time football official. Strange he was oblivious to such a dirty foul. New glasses, ref?
LATE news on Scotland’s naffest political dynasty, the MacGregors of North Lanarkshire. As we mentioned last week, the clan without a plan failed miserably to install cronies on the SNP’s Coatbridge branch. Now we hear MSP Fulton MacGregor, the chieftain o the puddin race, flopped even after dragooning brother Fraser, a former LibDem candidate for Holyrood, to vote. As this brother is an undertaker, perhaps it’s time he buried the clan’s ambitions?
TUCKED away in the footnotes of the budget vote was a sole abstention. Former childcare minister Mark McDonald, who sits as an independent after quitting the SNP in a text-pest row, wouldn’t vote for his old colleagues. It seems ministers didn’t even ask about his vote, preferring to shun him and ensure he didn’t get any cash he could brag about in Aberdeen Donside. The Nats really want that seat back in 2021...
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel