David Maddox: more Ministerial Reshuffle

The reshuffle announcement is happening in the next few minutes but it is clear that there will be no new names at the top table with all the cabinet ministers keeping their jobs.

Some will question why Mike Russell (pictured right), the official keeper of squirrels and trees (environment minister), will continue to gather dust outside the cabinet while lesser talents remain.

A Labour spin doctor has just sent me a quote from November 12 2006, which might explain it:

Mr Russell described Alex Salmond as: "A leader brilliantly suited to guerrilla opposition but much less well attended to the disciplines and demands of any new politics."

Mr Salmond has the memory of an elephant it is said.

Then it seems that Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop (pictured left), the perennial loser of votes in parliament, will survive.

But, while she fails to impress political correspondents our education colleagues think she is often unfairly maligned. There is also a feeling that she was dealt a duff hand by Mr Salmond, especially on the dropped SNP manifesto promises to reduce P1 to P3 class sizes to 18 and match Labour's proposed school building programme "brick for brick."

What she has done, apparently, is charmed much of the education world, including universities and parent groups, which has taken the heat off the SNP government and is possibly worth a few lost votes. The feeling is that Mr Russell's more "arrogant and dismissive" approach (as opponents describe it) would not have the same effect.