Row #1

Of all the things for the first row to be about, I'd never have bet on it regarding the status of Lockerbie Bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. While neglecting to talk to Alex Salmond, Tony Blair decided to have a little tete-a-tete with Colonel Gaddafi, in which the UK agreed that it would plan a prisoner transfer, which, if the Scottish Executive consented, would see al-Megrahi return to Libya.

Now there are two sides to this one: on the one hand, there is the view that the Memorandum of Understanding with Libya specifically made it clear that the UK Government would ask the Scottish Executive's permission to transfer al-Megrahi, so there was no need for this to be discussed beforehand. On the other, there is the fact that this would land on the Executive's desk sooner or later, and so it was only right and proper that they at least be kept in the loop.

The plot thickens when you hear Jack McConnell, informing radio listeners that the former FM had blocked moves for this to happen before. This means that 1) this is the latest chapter in persisient moves by the UK Government to hand al-Megrahi over (sidestepping the sentence he was given by the Scottish judiciary and the agreement that he would be tried in a Scottish Court - albeit based in the Netherlands - and if found guilty, held in a Scottish prison); and 2) yes, the UK Government is going out of its way to blank Salmond in a way that they didn't do to McConnell.

Actually, the current FM has got off comparatively lightly. He has been ignored by the Head of the UK's Government. McConnell got publicly slapped down by random junior Ministers that no one had previously heard of.

McConnell's sympathy for Salmond (watered down by lines like 'if this is true...') is telling: it shows how exasperating it must have been for him to deal with London. And he was in the same party as Blair! More amusing was that despite McConnell's reaction, the Labour MSPs' cybernetic implants were re-activated last night, and Drone 10 of 46 (known as Margaret Curran's Hands before assimilation into the Borg Collective) went on television and attempted to screech Alex Neil into submission (Alex Neil doesn't do submission, Maggie dear) and allege that everything is perfectly OK. This is now the Labour line.

Except that McConnell's reaction to Parliament (blamed on a lack of notice of the statement by the Hands), and his revelations on radio today undermine the line that his colleagues have taken.

So you have a persistent attempt by Blair to subvert the Scottish judicial process. You also have an act of contempt for the Executive, whose Ministers have a right to know what is landing on their desks. Credit to McConnell, he's given sympathy and (albeit half-hearted) support to Salmond on this, and say that Scottish institutions deserve more respect. It's a shame that his colleagues are ignoring him.

We're getting somewhere!

Enfin! Holyrood looks like it's close to having a Presiding Officer, in the shape of Alex Fergusson, Conservative MSP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale. Controversially, he might still take the Conservative whip, something neither George Reid nor David Steel did. Steel did, however, take the LibDem whip in the House of Lords. That impasse looks broken, however.

Next, Coalition. The SNP and Greens have a 'co-operation agreement'. The two agree on opposition to new nuclear power stations (they did anyway), support for independence and a referendum (they did anyway), and early legislation to deal with climate change (incidentally, I've always wondered how you actually do this - you can halt the man-made causes of climate change but you can't halt the change itself, so this is basically like making death illegal).

In practical terms, the Greens agree to vote for Alex Salmond as First Minister, and for his ministerial team (which, assuming he comes through on Wednesday, will be smaller than under the previous Executive). In return, they get one of the SNP's Committee Convenerships, and will be consulted on the Legislative Programme, Budget, and big policy announcements. The SNP also agree to be nice to the Greens, or rather, "to give sympathetic consideration to issues raised by the Green Party in Parliament, including via Motions and Members Bills."

It's a very loose model, far looser even than the Confidence & Supply proposals initially floated last year, and neither side has really played a blinder here: the SNP do not have guaranteed Green support for Budgets and Confidence motions; the Greens don't get all that many policies that weren't on the cards anyway. The SNP do have two extra votes for their Ministers, though (always useful), and the Greens get a bit of extra prominence via a Convenership. The major positive, however, is that this could be a template for a new arrangement with the LibDems, or even the Tories: the key to the agreement's success is its looseness.

But are the LibDems truly up for doing a deal? Rumours abound (via Richard Thomson) that a strop by Tavish Scott and Mike Rumbles could be the real cause of the LibDems' rejection of SNP advances, and that a power struggle is now on in the Party, and it looks like Nicol Stephen lost it: he is reported to have wanted to enter a Coalition, while Tavish Scott was the LibDems' Ian Paisley. Or rather, the LibDems' Ian Paisley of the 1970s.

Speaking of power stuggles, the knifes are starting to point at Jack McConnell's back. Successors are now being openly discussed, with Wendy Alexander, Margaret Curran's Hands and Andy Kerr all being mentioned. Even John Reid is being supported!

Labour in trouble

The Sunday Herald reports that a Labour MP - it doesn't name them - is on the verge of switching to the SNP. This would, if the report is accurate, be the first defection of any Labour MP to the SNP since Dick Douglas switched over the Poll Tax, and with less than four months to go until the Holyrood election, would be a PR disaster for Labour.

This is not a good campaign for McConnell: Labour are behind in the polls, his attempts to talk about devolved issues (and to give him credit, he is trying to do that, even if the nub of his speeches are to say what a mess he thinks the SNP would make of them) are being swamped by Westminster MPs talking about how awful independence would be. This then blunts McConnell's attempts to paint Alex Salmond as a negative campaigner, when all we hear from the Labour Party is 'Salmond bad'.

But what was interesting was what he said to Labour candidates in Edinburgh: "The prize will be worth it. On May 4th, to have bucked every international trend for a mid-term election..."

Mid-term?! This is the end of Jack McConnell's first full term, the end of the Executive's second term in office. This is only a mid-term if you consider Westminster as the be all and end all of politics. That little phrase might just provide the SNP, and Jack McConnell's critics within Labour (as well as some of the more small-n nationalist members of the Party) with a stick with which to beat the First Minister.

Dual mandate double standards

A piece of rather sloppy journalism in the Herald has led me to make this post: the paper is reporting on the LibDems' criticism of Alex Salmond seeking election in Gordon (one of their constituencies) while remaining as Westminster MP for Banff & Buchan.

Midway through the piece, they drop the clanger, by informing its readers: "Unlike previous dual-mandate parliamentarians... Mr Salmond would also be the first to represent two different sets of constituents."

In actual fact, the first parliamentarian to do so was Donald Gorrie, who was MP for Edinburgh West when he was elected as an MSP for the Central Scotland Region (which does not contain Edinburgh West) in 1999. Gorrie did not stand down from Westminster until 2001.

I do not recall the LibDems complaining (at least in public) that Gorrie would be either a part-time MP for Edinburgh West or a part-time MSP for Central Scotland. Now either the Liberal Democrats are the only party whose politicians can legitimately represent two different areas, or they just forgot about Gorrie. Clearly the Herald did...

Alex for Gordon

No, I'm not outing anyone, but simply informing readers of a report on the BBC website that Alex Salmond has accepted an invitation from local SNP activists to put his name forward to stand in the constituency of Gordon next year (he isn't the candidate yet, mind!). Gordon is at Number 18 on the SNP target list, and as such it's exactly the sort of seat that the Party needs to win if it's to have a good shot at forming the next Executive. Unfortunately, at Number 18, it isn't exactly going to be handed to the SNP on a silver platter.

By the way, the SNP have selected Douglas Chapman as their candidate for the Dunfermline and West Fife By-Election. The LibDems have selected Willie Rennie, which shows their confidence (or lack of it) of winning the seat: he's already been selected to fight Dunfermline West in 2007.

Selection Box

Alex Salmond is one step closer to Holyrood: Richard Lochhead MSP (SNP, NE Scotland) has been selected to defend Moray for the party following Margaret Ewing's decision to step down. This clears the way for Salmond to stand on the North East List, and probably to stand in Aberdeen Central as well. The Party Leader has also had offers to stand in Gordon, and key SNP target Cumbernauld & Kilsyth (though he's turned down this one). To gain the selection, Lochhead beat off challenges from, among others, Annabelle Ewing (the former MP for Perth), Alasdair Allan (the Party's National Secretary) and Douglas Henderson (MP for East Aberdeenshire 1974-79).

Looking briefly at other SNP possible candidacies:

Depute Leader Nicola Sturgeon has been selected unopposed as the SNP candidate in Glasgow Govan. Also, the Leadership is rumoured to be backing Bashir Ahmad for a high-ranking place on the List in the City.

In the Highlands and Islands, Jim Mather (current List MSP for the region) and Mike Russell (former MSP for the South of Scotland, and one-time Leadership candidate) are doing battle for selection in Argyll and Bute. Meanwhile, in the Western Isles, local Councillor Donald Manford is tipped to represent the Party against incumbent Labour MSP Alasdair Morrison.

In Ochil, Presiding Officer George Reid may well stand for re-election, but would prefer not to challenged by the other parties. The Herald is reporting that neither Labour nor the SNP are in favour of this, and Keith Brown is in the frame.

In the North East, Alex Salmond's likely candidacy on the List, along with a possible selection for Aberdeen Central or Gordon, is the big story, but Joe Fitzpatrick is the likely candidate for Dundee West.

In the West of Scotland, former SNP member Campbell Martin is obviously ruled out of re-selection by the Party, and Bruce McFee is standing down. Among the names vying to replace them are former MSPs Kenny Gibson (former MSP for Glasgow), Gil Paterson (who narrowly missed re-election for Central Scotland in 2003) and Fiona McLeod (who was given an implausibly low ranking in 2003). Professor Chris Harvey, formerly of the University of Tübingen, could also make an appearance.