David Maddox: The adventures of War Monkey

Mike Russell headed to Inverkeithing Primary School for his first media photo-op as the Scottish education secretary (designate) and was met there by a decent sized crowd of political press hacks.
He did the tour and then came in for a posed chat with a selection of distinctly nervous looking school children from various classes.
As he sat down with them, he breezily asked one: "What are you reading?" And then slightly choked as he read the title: "Oh, it's War Monkey."
Perhaps symbolic of what some believe is his new role given that he has to go into battle for the organ grinder (Alex Salmond) with Scotland's councils over education in the coming days.
But, what followed was not a good sign for what is to come, especially if he is looking for good press on a difficult issue for the Scottish Government.
Instead of facing questions from the assembled journalists of the written media, who had been waiting for an hour, Mr Russell decided that it was a greater priority to do his bit for government propaganda.
So he prioritised answering some banal questions for the Scottish Government website rather than searching ones from the fourth estate, cutting down the time available to question him on policy and the difficult issues ahead.
It was not clear who made this decision. Colin McAllister, the party spin doctor for education on the government pay role, should take much of the responsibility for not taking a grip on the situation and apparently leaving the decision to a junior press officer. Mr Russell, as an ex-media man himself, should have known better too.
But whoever is to blame, to put the government website first will do nothing to improve the SNP's image.

David Maddox: Breaking news - first cabinet casualty

Fiona Hyslop (pictured) has just been removed as education secretary by Alex Salmond after a string of failures.

She is replaced by Mike Russell. In turn Ms Hyslop takes over Mr Russell's old external affairs and culture portfolio in a non-cabinet role. However, Mr Salmond does not feel he can trust her with the referendum bill and has taken control of that personally.

It seems the final blow was a threat by the Lib Dems to hold a vote of no confidence on Thursday in Ms Hyslop. Interestingly, previous threats like this have been met with a threat by Mr Salmond to get the government to resign. But he clearly was not willing to stake the keys of Bute House on Ms Hyslop's woeful record.

Read more about it in tomorrow's Scotsman.

Hamish Macdonell - Mike Russell, part II

YOU have to feel just a little bit sorry for Mike Russell.
The new arts minister was pilloried in yesterday's Daily Record for his embarrassing descriptions of parts of Scotland (can't go to Glasgow without stepping over a drug addict, that sort of thing).
Despite his fury at the Record, he then had to go on the BBC yesterday evening to support those very same Record journalists who had given him a kicking in the face of threatened redundancies by the Record management.
Being a minister must be a constant trial ...
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Hamish Macdonell - The things he said

MIKE Russell, Scotland's new arts minister has had quite an artistic past himself, and that includes his book 'In Waiting: Travels in the Shadow of Edwin Muir'.
Its fair to say that this tome would hardly have been required reading for anybody in politics, let alone the Labour Party, before Mr Russell assumed ministerial office.
Now, though, everyone is reading it or, to be more precise, everyone is going through it to pick out bits which might embarrass the new minister.
So far Labour have found such gems as these:
Russell suggests Glasgow is too dangerous to get out of a car, and that tenement closes were covered with the bodies of unconscious drug addicts
He claims the flag on Edinburgh Castle is "an awful mutant tablecloth"
He bemoans that Dumfries is full of "skinny, ill-dressed women", he brands Aberdeen as "inhospitable" and Stirling as "less desirable".
Such revelations might cause Mr Russell's civil servants a few palpitations but the new minister is made of sterner, and more arrogant, stuff than that.
He is also pugnacious enough to take on any Labour MSP prepared to argue the case on any of these descriptions (he might also be pleased that such interest in his book might add a few copies to the sales figures).
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Tom Peterkin: Russell and referendum

Mike Russell's promotion from Environment Minister to Minister for Culture, External Affairs and Constitution seems to me to be an astute move by Salmond.
Although the two men have had their differences in the past, it has long been acknowledged that Russell is one of the most able SNP politicians and one of the "big beasts" of the Scottish Parliament.
It will fall to him to steer through the SNP's plans for an independence referendum next year - a task that will be fraught with difficulty.
Whether the nation has the stomach for a vote on the constitution during a time of economic difficulty is questionable. Gathering the parliamentary support for a referendum bill would be an achievement in itself.
With his rumbustious style this will be a challenge that Russell should relish. The elevation of Russell could also be a smart move by Salmond in another way. By setting aside any differences that may have existed between them in past, he has now shown that he is more prepared to recognise talent over blind loyalty.
The same applies to the elevation of Alex Neil and Roseanna Cunningham, two other politicians who have had a tricky relationship with Salmond in the past.

Hamish Macdonell - Ministerial reshuffle (2)

THE full results of the ministerial reshuffle are as follows:
Mike Russell is promoted from the environment to minister for culture external affairs and the constitution, with special responsibility for the planned referendum on independence next year. He replaces Linda Fabiani who is sacked.
Minister for schools and skills, Keith Brown is promoted from the backbenches (possibly as a reward for his leadership of the standards committee which punished Wendy Alexander and led to her resignation).
He replaces Maureen Watt, who is sacked.
Minister for housing and communities is now Alex Neil, (formerly the self-styled minister for Newsnight and someone who said hell would freeze over before Salmond gave him a ministerial job). He replaces Stewart Maxwell, who is sacked.
Minister for the environment is now Roseanna Cunningham, who replaces Mike Russell.
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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.

Hamish Macdonell - Ministerial reshuffle

THE Steamie understands that Alex Salmond is about to reshuffle his ministerial team.
The ministers have been told and the new shape of team Salmond will be unveiled at 11.30am today.
The Steamie understands that while Fiona Hyslop, the Education Secretary, was seen to be in danger of being axed completely from the ministerial team, she is likely to survive.
Stewart Maxwell, the housing minister, however, is rumoured to be a likely casualty, with his workload expected to be given to Shona Robison, the public health minister.
Roseanna Cunningham, who has been languishing on the backbenches, may be in line for a move to a ministerial job, possibly at environment, with another move sideways expected for Mike Russell, the current minister for squirrels, forests and meadows.
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David Maddox: Where Thatcher feared to tread

After the high drama of yesterday's budget debate we are back to the more mundane issues of the Thursday morning subject debates. These, as we have learnt with the SNP's support for the Green's £1billion free insulation scheme in November and unwillingness to add it to yesterday's budget, have all the meaning and substance of toilet paper being flushed down the lavvy.

But, interestingly, this morning we start with SNP plans to lease out large tracks of land run by the Forestry Commission for 75 years.

The "creative proposal," as Environment Minister Mike Russell put it, came from Rothschilds, the international financiers, historically most famous for lending money to Benjamin Disraeli to fund the Suez Canal.

Labour have pointed out that the same idea was floated by Rothschilds to Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and she rejected it as "a privatisation too far."

So there we have it the SNP are willing to go where even Margaret Thatcher balked. However, in their defence this far from being a straightforward debate. Mr Russell has made it clear that he watered down the Rothschild proposal and he argues that this is the only way to fund large scale extra forestation needed to meet Scotland's climate change targets.

The trouble with this row is that it is hard to see the wood for the trees.