Dear All
In politics, only a few things really surprise me, usually the surprise is someone doing the right thing.
When Labour MSP Anas Sarwar took over the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party, I was pretty sure he would do as most Labour leaders from the right wing previously done, and not be inclusive. Of the top four Glasgow Labour List candidates, the only one which didn't get a shadow cabinet post was Paul Sweeney. He, despite being a proven parliamentarian ended up with a shitty, and it is shitty, spokesman position. Paul Sweeney sits on the left of the party, and his 'appointment' begs the question, is this supposed to be Sarwar's idea of reuniting the party, is this supposed to be unity? Do you think anyone watching this from the outside would suppose throwing Paul Sweeney scraps would be a catalyst to bring together people on the left and right to work in common cause?
In politics, you are judged by what you do, and what you say.
One thing that Anas Sarwar had going for him in the Scottish Labour Leadership contest was that he wasn't Monica Lennon. Ms. Lennon's stint on the front bench as Shadow Health Sec was like watching a slow motion car crash unfold. She should never have been picked as Shadow Health Sec, she made no impact and her presentations were lousy. Monica Lennon isn't someone who should be allowed anywhere near a leadership position After she came out with her support of a second Scottish independence referendum but would campaign against it comments, I was seriously considering not voting in the leadership contest. Neither the two candidates represent me or my beliefs. Faced with a choice, I opted for the least worst option, I voted for Anas Sarwar to be leader. I am on record, on this blog as having no time for race card playing politicians, I don't follow them, I don't support them, and I have no desire to work campaigning for them.
After failing to win the leadership previously from Richard Leonard, Anas carved out a career raising health matters despite being removed as the Shadow Health Sec by former leader Richard Leonard. That made me sit up and take notice, because Anas showed he wasn't willing to be a team player. Monica Lennon was God awful as Shadow Health Sec and her story of banning her drunk dad from her wedding because she couldn't take any chances of him spoiling her big day. Well that really didn't amuse me at all. In fact, her relating that story was really cringe worthy stuff. Imagine going on national media and effectively trashing a member of your own family because he has a problem. The correct solution to that dilemma would be to keep your mouth shut, and say nothing ever. If she is prepared to treat her father like that on her wedding day, and years later treat him like trash relating the story, I don't know about you, but I think idiot.
The real issue which will effect Anas Sarwar as leader will be his campaign on racism and perceived discrimination. In politics, you have to be seen as statesman, and Sarwar's continual racism campaign will not endear him to the public. White people don't take kindly to anyone who singles their ethnic group as somehow being institutionally racist. When Sarwar did his infamous Holyrood speech as he ran through various Scottish positions in public life telling people the holder was "white", he failed to point out something rather important. Do you know what that was? I tell you, he failed to mentioned that all the positions he talks about were held by middle class people. Not only where they held by middle class people, other middle class people put them into those positions as well. So, because his narrative is to say that there is a problem of structural or institutional racism, he fails to mention what many would consider a key factor. Of course, and less we forget, Anas Sarwar went to a private middle class school, he sends his kids to a private middle class school, he went to a private middle class university, he did a medical course which is generally packed with middle class students, and is taught by middle class tutors. He like his father joined a middle class controlled Labour Party. Anas Sarwar has never experienced poverty, he has never had to do without, he has never suffered real discrimination, he is a multi-millionaire, and he stays in an up market exclusive middle class area. Rather than tackle the real issue of middle class protectionism in society, he opts for the emotive message of, it must be racism that is the problem, it is because of the colour of a person's skin.
Tell me about your suffering brother Anas!
The video above is a speech that he gave in the Scottish Parliament, he will live to regret it. I want you to notice his tone, notice the language he uses, he might have thought at the time, this was great speech to do but this will be his albatross. In previous posts, I have previously listed on the blog how Anas Sarwar and Humza Yousaf were acting like a 'double act' on racism. Playing the race card however is a niche market of the middle class or those seeking power, the market becomes even more reduced. Especially when you try and find like minded souls to help you out such as at election times. There is a thing in politics, where some people expect that you should ignore their past speech, deeds and actions.They wrongly presume they have an expectation of you working for them for free. In political parties, you will find there are those who feel they are 'the entitled', not because they got there on merit, but because the rules were adapted to get a specific outcome that favours them.
In the case of Anas Sarwar's rise being a poster boy for the right wing has been very useful to him. Now he is leader, he has a new set of problems. After the disgraceful way the right wing of the Labour Party in Scotland treated Richard Leonard when leader, the left will be supporting 'left' slate candidates only. This means that party resources, and that means human capital, will not be fluid in the party to assist others in seats where additional help could turn the election for the person standing for Labour. You got a sense of what is to come when former leader Richard Leonard turned down flat an offer of a Shadow Cabinet position. I can only assume that Leonard decided that previous deliberate and active undermining of his leadership was something which couldn't be healed by tokenism.
In the upcoming Scottish election Anas Sarwar as Scottish Labour leader is living in hope, hope that Scottish voters desert the SNP. You will remember in past posts, I said this isn't a viable strategy to becoming the ruling party. He lives in hope that by default he wins more seats, at that point, he will do what politicians always do, claim a revival. A couple of council by-elections happened in Glasgow just recently, Patrick and Baillieston, Labour won only one seat, the seat they did win had a poor SNP candidate, and the seat in Baillieston where Sturgeon lives, was taken by a former SNP Cllr David Turner. You would expect give how badly the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is doing in the press, that these should be both be first round votes wins for Labour. In Patrick, it took till round six of redistributing votes for the Labour Party to win it. If that was a test of 'judge me on my record' as leader, Anas Sarwar didn't do well, to scrap in at round six is embarrassing, especially in the current state of Scottish politics. In the Holyrood election, the SNP is expected and will lost votes, but the other indy minded parties are better positioned to get them than Scottish Labour, especially on the list. Although 4 list seats in Glasgow could in theory go to Scottish Labour.
This isn't guaranteed.
The fourth person on the Glasgow list is Pam Duncan Clancy, a well known disability campaigner, she might not win a list seat. I would say that the party has basically 3 solid chances in Glasgow. Can Anas Sarwar beat Nicola Sturgeon in Glasgow Southside, well if you look at the previous results, Sturgeon polled 3 votes for every vote Scottish Labour in 2016. Does Anas Sarwar have a spare 10,000 votes lying about, well to be more accurate, does he have 12,000 addition votes lying about. Sarwar needs a minimum target of 16,000 in this election. Does he have a campaign team which can find these votes, because the size of team will have to be extensive, and highly experienced. How many highly trained activists can Anas Sarwar count on helping him in this election against Sturgeon? Well, nip into his twitter page, and scroll down his tweets so you can judge the level of interaction he receives. As leader, I would have expected that he would receive hundreds of replies to his tweets. But he hardly receives a significant number, of course he has lots of followers, but lots of followers doesn't translate to lots of activists.
At the start of the year, I was rather busy doing campaigning/admin for the Labour Party, and its members. The first event was helping someone with their campaign to get selected high up on the Glasgow list. I put a lot of effort into that campaign, and it was successful. The downside of the campaign for me, was that there was an incident during it, where someone effectively tried to link me to the Scottish Defence League. Because of the nature of the allegation, I was informed about it, and I ask for any evidence so that I could understand and comment on it. I won't get into the nuts and bolts of what happened, but needless to say, I have a pretty fair idea where the smearing came from. I didn't make public during the Glasgow list campaign, that I was actively campaigning, neither on the blog or on social media. In fact, prior to being asked to do the campaign, I expressed stepping back from Holyrood campaign in any capacity in a blog post. The second campaign which I was involved with, was more an administration task, rather than campaigning for a set individual, I was procedures secretary to try and find a candidate to stand in Glasgow Pollok.
When the call went out asking for volunteers to be part of vetting, I thought given my extensive knowledge of campaigning, I would be able to help the Pollok CLP find someone suited to the task. Due to internal Labour Party elections and Covid, the process prior to my involvement had been abandoned several times. I became the head of the selection panel, voted in by a unanimous decision of those who attended the initial meeting. Because various unfortunate setbacks, I tried to get the process back on track and also legal within the CLP. In Pollok, in the past, a previous selection had ended up a Court matter, and I was determined that this selection of a candidate would be free, fair, and conform to due process. Due to the lateness of restarting selection, and not find a suitable candidate, the Labour Party wanted to extend the process. They also wanted to change the format after the selection date had been closed.
I refused on several technical grounds relating to due process.
I informed the party, a new process must take place, and I had the backing of the entire panel in this matter, people were keenly aware of what had happened previously. When I was delivered a new format for the election, I sat down and tried to figure how I could make this work, and conform to party rules and a legal footing. After a long hard assessment, I was left with two options, option one, run a process which I knew to be unfair, or option two, return the selection to a better legal framework by passing on the process to the next level up. The next level was the Scottish Executive Committee of the Scottish Labour Party. The party put out an email for a candidate, and eventually a decision was reached to appoint someone called Zubir Ahmed. In an ideal world, the selection panel of Pollok CLP should have chosen their own candidate, but for reasons which I won't get into, this wasn't possible due to time and technical reasons out with the panel's control.
As I mentioned above, and have repeated over many posts, the Scottish Labour Party needs overhauled. It needs a new campaigning model, and it needs a review of its staff and HQ operations. After my experience of how it operates selection, it also needs a review of that as well. I would say that everything, every single aspect of the Scottish Labour Party needs to be reviewed, the lot. This brings me to the case of Hollie Cameron, Ms. Cameron is someone I have met on the campaign trail, she is a former employee of Paul Sweeney when he was the MP at Glasgow North East. In the past she was an independence supporter which to me shouldn't count against her. But, and here is the but she applied to be the candidate for Glasgow Kelvin at Holyrood and was successful. When it came to light she was an indy supporter, this caused some stir and she was re-vetted by a panel because of concerns whether she would follow the party whip and vote against indyref 2 if it came before the Scottish Parliament. She failed re-vetting according to party bosses, she had failed to give assurances she would follow the party whip. Any candidate must follow the party whip, this is what you agree to when you put yourself forward, its basic stuff.
After failing re-vetting, nearly all officers of a local Scottish Labour Party, Glasgow Kelvin CLP have resigned in protest at her removal. In cases like this, when a candidate is brought in for re-vetting, a member of the former selection panel and officer of the CLP should have been brought into the re-vetting to act as observers. This way the CLP could see everything was above board and that they could have confidence in the system. If the candidate wanted during re-vetting input from the selection panel member, this should be an option which is allowed. In the case of Hollie Cameron, it would have shown the CLP that she had been treated fairly. As I wrote above, the rules of Scottish Labour need revisited and so does those who apply those rules. Normally, I don't do admin, my time is more than taken up with campaigning, but after my selection panel experience, I take the view that change is needed. If people from Glasgow Kelvin had viewed the re-vetting then possibly eleven officers at Glasgow Kelvin Constituency Labour Party (CLP) including the chair, vice-chairs and secretary may not have resigned. After she was removed, I contacted Anas Sarwar and asked to be considered as a possible candidate, he never had the decency to reply back. Cameron, was replaced by an Anas Sarwar ally, Pam Duncan-Glancy, given her position on the Glasgow list, she will be getting two bites of the cherry for Holyrood. My personal view is that a candidate standing on the list should not be allowed to stand in a constituency.
A statement issued yesterday by 11 Glasgow Kelvin CLP members said:
“In light of the decision by Scottish Labour’s SEC to impose a candidate on Glasgow Kelvin CLP for the Holyrood elections in May, displacing the democratically selected candidate Hollie Cameron, the following officers of Glasgow Kelvin CLP have decided to resign their offices immediately. We are resigning because we believe the reasons offered for removing Hollie are unjust and contradictory. Further, the CLP and the executive have been entirely side-lined. Hollie’s treatment in this process has been unacceptable and we fear will deter future candidates putting themselves forward. We cannot commit to campaigning in this constituency when our democratically selected candidate has been removed, but we want to stress that we wish to see all Labour candidates succeed throughout Glasgow and across Scotland.”
Responding to the resignations, a Scottish Labour spokesperson said:
“We will be running a positive campaign in Glasgow Kelvin which focuses on what unites us, not what divides us, and prioritises a national recovery plan for a fairer and stronger Scotland.”
Well, the first thing to note is the spokesperson doesn't address the issues, and glosses over a rather startling fact. No one will be able to run a positive campaign in Glasgow Kelvin because of what happen. What has been created is bad blood, ill will and I would suggest an easy SNP victory.
Scottish Labour regional MSP for Lothian Neil Findlay also criticised the decision as “absolutely outrageous”.
He tweeted:
“Hollie Cameron was selected by members of her constituency, her views chime with many Labour voters and with the views expressed my myself, Monica Lennon and many members.”
Declan McLean, a Scottish Labour activist, who also worked in Paul Sweeney's office, and is a friend of Ms. Cameron wrote:
“That means we should not deny Scots the opportunity to discuss independence if it is the desire of the majority. We may disagree on the timing, but we should not be seen to be standing in opposition to democratic wishes. While we might hope and expect that under a new, federal relationship, most Scots would vote to remain within the UK, we should also be prepared to address the feelings of many that this issue is unending. We could do this by approving the Welsh Government’s ‘voluntary association’ stance and providing the Scotland Act with a provision which allows the Scottish Parliament to hold a referendum, which could then be caveated by the inclusion of a time bar that would prevent a referendum from being held more frequently than is desirable, or in contrast to a majority’s opinion against one.”
Finally, Scottish Labour leaders have all at some stage claim to have "fixed" Scottish Labour, the most famous in my mind being Jim Murphy. The fact is, that Scottish Labour leaders don't know what they are looking at when they look at the party machine. They can't wrap their heads around the fact that the Scottish Labour Party machine is broken. And it's not just a case it is broken, it also a case that those who operate the system aren't up to the task. This is because they are used as small cogs in a machine which is so damaged that everyone who operates it is normalised to it. Anas Sarwar isn't off to a great start as leader, planting his allies in constituency seats shows this, in fact he should have supported a 'left of slate' replacement candidate in Glasgow Kelvin. Glasgow Kelvin won't produce an effective campaign in this election, so many key players are missing. Clearly the rules of selection matter, but also the spirit of the rules matters, justice must be done, and seen to be done. In the case of Hollie Cameron, this could have been achieved if the party had allowed members of the Glasgow Kelvin CLP into the re-vetting as observers. It didn't happen so everyone is left with a bad taste in their mouths, and a lot of goodwill has been lost needlessly.
Yours sincerely
George Laird The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Sarwar put up a good fight on behalf of the mother of Millie Main who we have subsequently found-out was poisoned by the water supply at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. That's what Holyrood was established for and it is what MSP's should be doing for us. The problem is that they don't do that, they are engaged full-time year after year in the constitutional debate which is nothing more than a hamster wheel. He will need to put up another good fight, but the SNP have dropped by 11% since Sturgeon's Fabiani Committee appearance and so all is not lost. I think Labour will do surprisingly well. If this week proves to be another bad week for the SNP, they will drop by another few points or maybe more. That puts them in a another minority administration.
ReplyDeleteTake a look, George. Posted on WoS earlier today:
ReplyDeleteYesterday I reported on these pages that a school I was working on in 2014 was possibly unsafe. A mistake was made whilst building the school; it was reported at the time and it could have been corrected, but nothing was done and work continued.
The school was finished in 2015 and has been occupied ever since.
I received another 2No promises from Scotgov to respond to me this morning. That’s 4No promises I’ve had off Scotgov in the past 3No days and so presumably something is happening.
What’s vexing about this case is that it was reported at the time to Scotgov’s lawyers who said “we’ve asked everyone who needs to know about this and no-one agrees with you.” I accepted that, but it turns out not to have been true. It appears that they lied.
What I have been complaining about has been reviewed by many, many experts including a Professor of Engineering, numerous academics and consultants and what I have claimed will happen to this building will happen. It’s just a matter of time.
The government’s lawyers stopped communicating with me over a year ago. Presumably Scottish government lawyers can just do that. But, you would think they must be communicating with someone? Has a lawyer personally decided that this school is safe? Without asking anyone?….surely not.
It is now in the hands of the teachers at the school. Presumably they are aware that something isn’t quite right with that building. The same problems appear winter after winter and no-one can seem to solve them.
I understand that it is being inspected again, officially this time and by an authority which is non-political and which will get to the cause of the problem professionally.
What happens to the chap who made the complaint seven years ago and who has been frozen-out of the industry ever since? I presume the Scottish Government will be hoping that he can be proven wrong, but what if he cannot be proven wrong? What, in fact, if he is proven to have been right all-along?
Sounds like a real mess, doesn’t it. A needless mess caused entirely by lawyers who think they know everything but who actually know next to nothing. I wish they would just listen.
I understand the case is being dealt with by the forensic MSP from Dumbarton and so that is grounds for some optimism, isn’t it.
I understand that the James Hamilton Inquiry has found that the Ministerial Code wasn't broken. When in Rome...do as the Romans do. When in Scotland, which is full to overflowing with bent lawyers, just become a bent lawyer yourself for a few months. It makes life so much easier.
ReplyDeleteNever underestimate the power of a large number of thick folk. They are clinging-on to the SNP for now, but they know something is wrong. It is complex though and they just can't be arsed trying to understand it all. Some will try harder than others.
By the time of the election, some will have been converted and some will not have been converted. That's the game now.
"In five pages alone (15 to 20) there are 51 redactions in the Hamilton Report concluding Nicola Sturgeon did not mislead the Scottish Parliament, making it unintelligible to the vast majority of readers." ANDREW NEIL
ReplyDeleteSomething tells me this is not over. What are they doing redacting a report like this? Does anyone know?
Alex Salmond is going to release a statement on Wednesday, the day of the VoNC in Sturgeon.
ReplyDeleteWhen Gorgeous George tells people to vote Tory to defeat the SNP. You know Lie@bour is still toxic. It will be another few years before people forget how awful Lie@bour was in power.
ReplyDeleteA bit late I know but SL have missed a trick in not involving Jenny Mara in their future plans.A very accomplished speaker indeed.
ReplyDeleteI hear that he's the first Scottish Labour leader in a while to start bringing up things that matter like the SNP having a piss-poor record on education for example. I suspect that's a sign that people in Scotland are FINALLY beginning to wake up to the SNP's crappy behaviour. Soon everyone will know what useless donkeys they are at best, and intolerant bigots at worst.
ReplyDeleteEveryone at Holyrood is aware of what they are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do and they all take full advantage of that. Make no mistake, a term at Holyrood is one of the best jobs around where you get paid very well for little or nothing in return. Sarwar is aware of that too but, for me, he is OK and a hell of a lot better than Sturgeon.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, is James Hamilton 'independent' as we are all told he is? Is he not employed by Scottish Government and paid by them going back many years? He produces a report naming the alphabet women when he perhaps doesn't need to. Then he gives his report to J. Swinney who redacts as he wishes. That redacted report is delivered to the masses as an "Independent report providing full vindication of the FM". That doesn't seen right to me.
James Hamilton is independent because he is Irish and all Irish lawyers are independent, no matter who pays them. It's just like Scottish lawyers really. Independence is all in the mind.
ReplyDeleteLabour's Education Minister in Iain Gray who's one of the most endemically lazy folk at Holyrood. He has just let everyone down. If Sarwar is starting to do his job for him, then that's a good start.
ReplyDeleteRegarding James Hamilton; I understand that he investigated the then FM of Wales, Carwyn Jones, after the suicide of a colleague. I seem to remember the colleague was accused of some sexual offence, which is the favorite accusation of the wee provincial assembies throughout the UK. Anyway, Hamilton cleared him on a technicality (much as Sturgeon has been cleared on a technicality). However, he had to resign 5-days later after the intervention of lawyers working on behalf of the family of the deceased. They'll be real lawyers and not the James Hamilton type.
Hence, it may not be over yet. Mind-you, I'll bet they have decent lawyers in England and not the simpering political shite we have here in Scotland.
An interesting contribution from a chap in London on WoS earlier. Never contributed before and so a newcomer, but astonished by the brass neck of Sturgeon and Swinney. An ex fraud squad detective. His opinion is that we are encountering off the scale corruption just now at Holyrood.
ReplyDeleteDismissive of James Hamilton and Fabiani. In his view, history will view Sturgeon as the most crooked parliamentarian perhaps of all-time, certainly so in Scotland.
His solution?....follow the money. The £600,000 ring-fenced indyref 2 money which has gone missing. Been purloined somewhere between Holyrood and our bent Crown Office.
"I have no skin in the game as I’m based in London so can’t vote and unable to influence anything that’s going on. That said; as an interested observer the political situation in Scotland right now is beyond dire and I can’t think of how an even modest improvement is likely to happen any time soon.
ReplyDeleteBy his own admission AS could and should have been a better man. Regardless of his behaviour trying to get him locked up was a mind blowing course of action. Thank God he had the resources to challenge and successfully defend himself. NS is without doubt the most heinous creature and will go down in history as an unmitigated disaster who lied and lied and lied about EVERYTHING.
As a retired fraud investigator the only obvious way to proceed is chase the money and in particular the £600K which seems to be “unavailable”. My guess is that these funds were used to pay legal fees out with the blatantly corrupt Crown Office."
Alex Salmond is giving a press release tomorrow. I heard that at the end of last week. Also, I reckon another contribution from David Davis in the HoC would help those with an IQ north of 75 get a grip on the subject of Sturgeon and Swinney's corruption. Failing that, London's honorary Jock, Andrew Neil, will go ahead and interview Alex Salmond. Andrew Neil had promised to publish Geoff Aberdein's statement, but no doubt the Crown Office have put the frighteners on him. He's a Scot and so he could be transported north and held in a basement cell at Govan Police Station for a week. That's the modus operandi of Iain Livingston. Guido Fawkes aren't Scottish and so they will go ahead and print anything. They've messed with the Saudi Government and the Chinese Government in the past. They won't give two fucks about Sturgeon.
ReplyDeleteReally though, you have to say, the Scottish Government, Crown Office and their footsoldiers at Police Scotland, the Lord Advocate and almost all Scottish lawyers are dog-shite, aren't they. You just wonder what any educated Scot from the past, and there were many, would make of this. It would insult an idiot.
Surely Boris needs to move and close Holyrood down.
I think that Sarwar is the most credible candidate, barring Jackie Baillie, that Labour could put forward and I wish him well. That said, today's abstention in the VoNC debate was, in my opinion, remarkable. What was Jack McConnell, Henry McLeish, Wendy Alexander removed from Holyrood for? Was it more or less serious than this? He really needs to develop a political back-bone, a moral compass, because today's performance will not win Labour any votes.
ReplyDeleteNotice Willie Rennie today suggesting that Alex Salmond was, by his own admission, not perfect and thus it is consequentially OK for Nicola Sturgeon to bankrupt him and attempt to send him to jail until his death. It seems I mis-judged Willie Rennie; he is indeed a consumate prick. Who would vote for that idiot?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of this possible scenario, George. Someone mentioned it earlier on WoS and it got me thinking. What if Alex Salmond released everything on RT (Russia Today)? They are outside the jurisdiction of these Crown Office tubes and in any case, RT would not be afraid of James Wolffe and his bogus threats. RT plus Alex Salmond....do you think they would be a match for Nicola Sturgeon and Dani Garavelli? Just a thought. Whatever old-Alex does, I don't think he is beaten just yet. By the way, he is £500,000 down in legal costs already and that's another reason I think he isn't finished with Sturgeon. It took the Duff and Phelps Directors £1.5m to beat James Wolffe and so it doesn't come cheap. I believe George Galloway has some connection with RT as well.
ReplyDeleteRT won't work. RT's UK registered (unfortunately) and so subject to the same rules as the rest.
ReplyDeleteI think the alphabet women will be named by an overseas source within the next couple of weeks. There is a great public need for this information now. Especially alphabet woman H who saw a way to get Alex Salmond but stay protected. Staying protected means more than just the BBC and The Guardian.
ReplyDeleteHow can you abstain in a vote of no-confidence? I cannot understand that...you either have confidence or you don't. You cannot leave yourself it a position whereby it looks to the public like you cannot make-up your mind. Am I missing something here? I thought it was obvious from Jackie Baillie that she didn't have confidence "I've not seen anything like this in 20-years at Holyrood". What's the problem with these folk?
ReplyDeleteTalking about the alphabet women, I notice Alex Salmond is asking Police Scotland to investigate the leak to the Daily Record. That will smoke alphabet woman H out. I even know who she is and so we aren't asking the Police to find Bible-John this time. They should sort this-out inside a fortnight. Something wrong if they don't.
ReplyDeleteAlso, he is taking legal action against Leslie Evans. Hence, she needs to keep her job so that she has an employer to pay. I think Alex has access to crowdfunding if he needs to ask for it. I doubt if anyone will crowdfund that old bugger Evans.
That just leaves the missing 600k...I wonder if anyone knows where that is just now.
So far, Alex has paid £1.1m in legal fees and been re-paid around half that amount by the SG. He therefore has a lot of ground to make-up, doesn't he. One thing I've noticed about this lot at Holyrood, and it makes them different from any other gov that I've encountered, they will use financial hardship to beat you down. They have no problems in doing that and, in fact, it is an essential tool which they use all of the time.
Good luck to Salmond. He's catching the public mood for a good clean-up of politics and the civil-service in Scotland.