David Maddox: Lochhead loses the spirit of Speyside

Pity the poor Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead (pictured right). There he was enjoying one of the biggest junkets of the year as a judge at the Spirit of Speyside contest sniffing and tasting 40 single malts and he is forced to clear off to take part in some pesky votes.

One thing is for certain, though, his constituents in Moray will not thank him for his sacrifice.
I admit to some jealousy with this, as a judge of the same contest from last year, I had to give up my place because Thursday is Holyrood's busiest day.

However, there were a couple of reasons why he should take part in these votes. The first was on the Forestry Commission which is part of his departmental responsibilities and which the SNP won by one vote.

The second, though, was called in his honour. As mentioned in this blog before Labour took the advice of my colleague Hamish Macdonell's column to test Mr Lochhead's loyalties - constituents vs government career.

The vote was essentially on whether MSPs regretted the failure to include the Elgin bypass in its strategic transport plans for the next 20 years. Since the SNP promise to do exactly that was formally dropped by his constituency neighbour Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson, the MSP for Banff and Buchan, he has continued to campaign for its inclusion.

So was he going to continue to back his constituents and resign after voting against the government of which he is a minister? Not on your life. Ministerial career first. No regrets for Lochhead.