Thursday 16 August 2007

278,000,000 Malawian kwacha = 1 Jack McConnell.


So, hardly was the Kleenex less moist after Jack McConnell’s announcement that he was to stand down as Scottish Labour Leader than British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was announcing his elevation to the role of British High Commissioner to Malawi, a role the perks of which the Scotsman reports in tremendous detail.

Now Mr Smith is not exactly sure how this can possibly work in practical terms given Mr McConnell’s avowed intention of continuing to serve as a Member of the Scottish Parliament, presumably, until the next parliamentary elections in 2011, given that presumably as High Commissioner to Malawi he may, actually, er, …. have to spend a lot of time in Malawi, at least after 2009.

So Mr Smith expects that in the not too distant future there will be a by-election in McConnell’s Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, perhaps even after an Ermin-clad McConnell has been raised to the House of Lords, meaning he will then have three jobs on the go at the same time.

But Mr Smith cannot help but notice that Mr McConnell appears to have settled for such a medium rate governmental role. After all, when former Labour MP Helen Liddell opted to bail out of Lanarkshire politics to “free up” a seat for John Reid et al, she was rewarded with the High Commissioner to Australia job. McConnell gets Malawi albeit on a six figure salary or 278 million Malawian kwacha, to go along with his First Ministerial pension.

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