Mr Smith reads of the first guests to be invited by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond to join him for dinner at his Official Residence of Bute House in Edinburgh.
"First Minister Alex Salmond was accused of misusing public funds after it emerged that several wealthy SNP donors were entertained at his official residence at taxpayers' expense. The dinner, which was held at Bute House in Edinburgh, was held to honour Sir Sean Connery, who has donated thousands of pounds to the party over the years. Sir Sean attended the event on June 29 with his wife, as did the bus tycoon Brian Souter and the Kwik-Fit entrepreneur Sir Tom Farmer - the SNP's top two donors. Sir George Mathewson, who has given financial backing to the SNP and is chairman of the Scottish Government's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), also attended with his wife, as did Crawford Beveridge, the former chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, member of the CEA and Nationalist donor."
It does seem rather unlikely that so many SNP supporters all ended up having dinner with Mr Salmond at the same time purely by chance, but Mr Smith has no doubt that as time goes on more of Scotland's great and the good will be invited along to Bute House. Who knows Mr Smith may even get an invite in the inbox, but it does seem rather churlish of Labour MSPs to be moaning about an expenditure of £1,500 for a dinner for some of Scotland's top citizens especially given that the former Labour First Minister Jack McConnell hosted a lot of dinners at Bute House during his time, with many of the guests self proclaimed Labour supporters.
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