David Maddox: Note to budding politicians - beware your past indiscretions

David Kerr (pictured right), the SNP candidate for Glasgow North-east, has not had the easiest transition from journalist (of the BBC variety) to politician.

Fourth choice candidate after originally being rejected, attacked for his membership of Opus Dei, and then there were his comments about Glasgow Caledonian University (no reputation to tarnish, he says) and sectarianism (not a problem in Scotland, apparently).

It is all a classic case of past words and actions coming back to haunt somebody when they put their head above the political parapet. In other words if you want to be a political candidate try to avoid doing or saying anything of interest that can dragged up.

The Steamie has been given a copy of the talk he gave to the Catholic Society at his alma mater St Andrews University two years ago. (I've just realised that as we are the same age we were probably there at the same time in the mid-1990s, along with James MacKenzie, the Green's spin doctor and author of the Two Doctors blog.)

The question over his comments on Glasgow Callie was whether it represents an elitist view of higher education or is just a light-hearted stand-up routine for a bunch of students. Likewise, whether his impressions in the same clip of the Protestant reformer John Knox is humour or something nastier.

Click on the link below and make up your own mind:

David%20Kerr