Dining At The Top Table

Alex Salmond has come under a lot of criticism for his eating habits in the past two years. Thankfully, this represents a comment on his tendency to take people to dinner and claim food on expenses rather then criticism about his weight.

The lastest affair is selling lunch in the Scottish Parliament Restaurant, at auction, for £9,000.

Now, this is nothing new. The SNP have used meals with the great and the good of the party for fundraising for many years, favouring small auctions rather then the banquets used by Labour and the Conservatives. In many ways it seems fair enough – the auctions are only open to party members, they are designed to let supporters meet the leadership and they sound like a good day out.

Unfortunately, they are a fundraising technique more suited to minor party then a party of government. Not least because no matter who wins the auction or what they discuss with the First Minister, it does effectively amount to cash for access. Let us not forget that that simple phrase not only felled several Tory MPs in the 90s, but also helped see John Major’s defeat in 1997 and caused occasional problems for Labour.

I highly doubt that Alex Salmond’s views will be changed or influenced by whoever was fortunate enough to win the auction, but the Office of the First Minister must remain above the possibility of any such impropriety. While the possibility of cash for access is equally likely at Labour and the Conservatives gala banquets, these do provide a more acceptable fundraising model which should be adopted by the party in future. They also have the added benefit of allowing more party members to participate.

In addition to this issue, there is also the question of dining in the Parliament itself. James at TwoDoctors covers this aspect of the affair in detail.

The Attack Blog Storm Fails To Exit It’s Tea-Cup

The bunfight over attack blogs seems to be rolling on thanks to a combination of an extremely angry Mark McLauchlin and a rather inept Iain Gray.

Mr McLauchlin appeared in last week’s Sunday Times, discussing various issues relating to his blog, including his resignation and attack blogs in general. He raises some interesting point – for example, by suing the SNP, he may set a precedent for better employment rights for political employees, one of the few groups remaining society where staff are expected to fall upon their own swords from time to time. I can also understand his position and his demands to the SNP for help finding a new job, something which was revealed in a series of leaked emails, although I find it hard to agree with him.

It will be very interesting to see how Mr McLauchlin gets on with his suit, although until such time as more evidence is presented to prove that Mike Russell actually contributed, consented or otherwise supported McLauchlin’s blog, it remains a bit of a non-issue between the SNP and a former employee. Labour are facing problems persuing the SNP over this issue, as was illustrated by Alex Salmond in yesterday’s First Minister’s Question Time:

Here is the challenge: if we want to talk about conduct in politics, let us condemn attack blogs from whatever source. After Damian McBride and the Leaky Chanter, the Labour Party should not pretend that it has not had serious involvement in such things. As a Parliament, can we not agree to deprecate such conduct?

This was part of an extended question from Iain Gray regarding Mike Russell and Mr McLauchlin. It can only be described as one of Mr Gray’s least considered political decisions – attacking the SNP for sacking McLauchlin, attacking the SNP for not taking action on blogs (an area which is far out with the remit of the Parliament or any Party) and finally rounding on bloggers in general, stating “I wish to see these anonymous blogs rooted out and got rid of”.

The result of this question is a ten minute piece of political theater which allowed Alex Salmond to give a five star performance, leaving Gray looking distinctly chastened. The fact that Salmond was able to turn everything Gray asked about back upon him suggests that this may finally be the issue of attack blogs seeing it’s death in the chamber, but also serves to illustrate the failings of Iain Gray as a leader. He is simply unable to hold the SNP to account or tackle Alex Salmond with any adequacy.

It is unfortunate that Labour also have their English counterparts and tribal voting patterns to rely on during the 2010 election. If the campaign battle for Scotland was simply between Salmond and Gray, I suspect the SNP aim of 20 seats would seem pessimistic.

Update: Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting reports that a second scalp has been claimed in this affair after the SNP council leader in Dumfries & Galloway confirmed that he had written emails to Mr McLauchlin, prompting him to write articles on his blog. I am concerned that this will not be the last scalp claimed…