Cock-Up?

Mr Smith sees that the SNP seem to be coming very close to alleging election fraud in last year's Glenrothes by-election because of the fact that the marked register for the by-election has gone astray.

"THE official register of all those who voted in the crucial Glenrothes by-election in November was lost within days of being handed over by the returning officer to the sheriff clerk in Kirkcaldy, it has been revealed. The loss has prompted an investigation by the Scottish Court Service, but Tricia Marwick, the SNP MSP for Central Fife, yesterday called for an independent inquiry."

It is a major cock-up by the Courts Service, not the first, but does anyone seriously believe that someone forged a few thousand votes in order to let Labour win a by-election that it wasn't expected to, and all in Fife which is actually controlled by an SNP-Liberal Democrat Council which had responsibility for running and overseeing the election? Mr Smith is known to believe in the odd conspiracy, but this isn't one of them.

Missing Inaction.

It seems to Mr Smith that Jack McConnell really doesn't have any excuses left for not resigning as a Member of the Scottish Parliament. He is clearly not doing the job, and the voters of Lanarkshire deserve an MSP who will actually represent their interests in the Scottish Parliament by being there and saying and doing something at least very occasionally.

The reality however is that Labour will still not to risk another by-election in the murky political waters of Lanarkshire and so he will be allowed to be a part-time MSP.

"Jack McConnell is under growing pressure to resign as an MSP after it was disclosed that he has one of the poorest records for voting and asking questions at Holyrood. The former first minister, who is paid £55,381 a year and receives a £38,454 a year pension, has failed to ask a single oral question in the Scottish parliament and has submitted about one written question per fortnight since Labour lost power in May last year. Other former Labour ministers have asked nearly 20 times as many over the same period. McConnell sits on no parliamentary committees and has missed up to seven times as many votes as his former Labour ministerial colleagues."

Mr Tambourine Man.

"THE SNP recriminations over the Glenrothes by-election intensified last night when one of the country's most influential Nationalists cautioned against the party continuing to govern as a "one-man band". Jim Sillars, the former SNP MP, claimed too much power had fallen to Alex Salmond, adding that the party leader did not like having people around who might disagree with him."

Mr Smith doesn't think it is that bad ... yet, although Oor Eck was getting a bit too smug for his own boots.

And you do have to take whatever Jim "I've been in more parties than you've had hot dinners" Sillars says with a pinch of salt.

Yes We Can ...

Er ... no you can't.

What a difference forty eight hours makes. It's no wonder it is being described as Salmond's "Kinnock" moment.

Against All Odds.

Mr Smith thinks it has been one of those weeks for major political upsets and the rewriting of political history both foreign and domestic.

First we had Barack Obama being elected the first black President in the United States, and only the third Democratic President in the last ten American Presidential elections ... and then we had Lindsay Roy holding onto the Glenrothes seat for Labour in yesterday's by-election.

It is difficult to decide which is the bigger achievement, given that most political commentators thought that an SNP victory in Glenrothes was certain with only the size of the majority being in doubt. The eventual outcome of a seven thousand vote majority for Labour is a a clear sign of one thing however, and that is that with a possible Scottish Government independence referendum as little two years away that the SNP's case for independence has taken a major political dent in light of the UK Government's hundreds of billions of pounds' solution to the current economic and banking crises. A solution that would never have been open to an autonomous Scottish government.

The Glenrothes by-election result wasn't so much the end of the SNP's political "honeymoon" in Scotland. It was probably also the end of the SNP's independence dream at least for a generation.

A Life Less Ordinary.

Courtesy of Drumnlanrig, "Gordon Brown has made a habit of appearing before tough, impartial audiences while campaigning in Glenrothes. During his first appearance in an industrial estate he bravely met six handpicked Labour supporters. On his second visit, at the Bowhill War Memorial Hall, he addressed what one hack described as "ordinary, undecided voters like Helen Eadie". Ms Eadie, is, of course, the Dunfermline East Labour MSP. There she was sitting beside the Labour MSPs Claire Baker, Marilyn Livingstone and John Park."

Worse than that. Mrs Eadie can't even vote in the by-election, given that she lives in Dunfermline East. Which member of the fourth estate was it?

Homesick Blues.

"SNP candidate Peter Grant was branded "half-hearted" for saying he would quit as an MP after just five years. The Nats' candidate for Glenrothes said he would be "homesick" after five years at Westminster, if he is elected. He also believes Scotland will be independent by then and have no MPs at Westminster."

It will be interesting to see if Mr Grant is right, and more to the point whether the voters of Glenrothex will give him the chance to be homesick.

Tradition.

"GORDON BROWN will hit the campaign trail in the crucial Glenrothes by-election. He has insisted in the past that he supports the tradition of Prime Ministers not getting involved in by-elections. But in the wake of a rousing conference speech, he is set to campaign in the constituency before a date for the contest - believed to be November 6. That way he will not be breaking the tradition."

Tradition probably doesn't apply when you are the Member of Parliament for the seat next door. Tradition will be even more difficult for the voters to understand when Labour loses the seat. Then again Labour losing elections is actually becoming a bit of a tradition.

Between Jobs.

From the Herald Diary, "POLITICAL candidates will look for any favourable signs that they are going to do well in an election. We bump into Peter Grant, the local council leader who is the SNP's candidate in the Glenrothes by-election who tells us excitedly: "I've just got a new tax code from HMRC with a letter saying We believe you are currently between jobs'.
"Do they know something I don't?"

Probably.

Regarding Henry.

"Former First Minister Henry McLeish is a strong contender to take on the SNP at the forthcoming by-election in Glenrothes."

And the story has also been reported in other publications over the weekend.

Someone should tell Henry not to do it before it is too late for both himself and the Scottish Labour Party. Henry has too much history to make a viable by-election candidate, not least because of his close connections to the SNP over the last year. It has all the potential of a long-running disaster movie filmed in slow-mo.

Politics 101.

Mr Smith doesn't often venture into political affairs outside of Scotland or the US, but on this occasion for educational purposes he feels he must. Looking at the line up of candidates for the Henley Parliamentary by-election caused by the election of former Tory MP Boris Johnson as London Mayor, Mr Smith noted with interest they included ... Chris Adams, UK Independence Party ... Derek Allpass, English Democrats ... Harry Bear, The Fur Play Party ... Louise Cole - Independent (Miss Great Britain Party) ... Amanda Harrington - Independent (Miss Great Britain Party) ...

Er ... hang on ... isn't there something wrong there? Two candidates from the Miss Great Britain Party ... er ... weren't you only supposed to field on candidate in a by-election? Well one of them was a blonde ... just joking.

Goodbye Mr McConnell?

"Jack McConnell should quit his seat at Holyrood in the first half of next year if he is to take up his new post as High Commissioner to Malawi, according to a powerful Westminster committee. "

Mr Smith thinks that Jack would jump at the chance to say ta-ta to the murky world of Motherwell politics but his Imperious Labour Leaders will be less keen. Labour doesn't have a good track record when it comes to fighting by-elections in Lanarkshire, even when they hold the seats.

PS Should he rewrite the slogan on his website to read, "Working Together for Motherwell and Wishaw" ... and Malawi?

Trivial Pursuits.

Speaking of David Davis' by-election campaign, Mr Smith noticed these ridiculous comments from a potential rival to Mr Davis.

"David Davis's biggest rival for the by-election over the 42-day detention could be a beauty queen. Miss Great Britain, 26-year-old Gemma Garrett, representing the Beauties for Britain party, is planning to stand on a platform of making politics "sexy not sleazy" ... Ms Garrett, who stood in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election last month, rejected claims that she was playing "pantomime politics" and accused Mr Davis of being "trivial" for standing down on the issue of 42-day detention. "Was his decision to step down purely principle or is he a little crazy?" she asked. "We already have a 28-day thing in place anyway, so for the sake of 14 days I thought it was a little bit trivial."

Who's being "trivial"? Mr Davis or Ms Garrett? You decide.