David Maddox: Rewards for failure

So what price failure in the Scottish Government. Well in the last two years it has been £163,024.25, a price paid not by failed ministers but to them by the poor old tax payer.

This nuggest came out in a recent parliamentary answer by John Swinney to Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, Labour MSP for the Lothians, First Lord of the Twittery.

It seems that 10 Labour and Lib Dem ministers who lost their jobs in May 2007 because the electorate preferred the SNP were paid £99,742.50 between them as a pay-off.

Then the three former SNP ministers - Stewart Maxwell (bottom left), Linda Fabiani (mid left) and Maureen Watt (top left) - deemed so hopeless by Alex salmond that he sacked them got £43,730.75 between them for not being up to the job - that's £14,576.92 each.

David Maddox: FMQs - Tories first to get unwanted double

Annabel Goldie (pictured right), the Scottish Conservative leader, made it an unwanted double today for her party after she was pulled up for insulting First Minister Alex Salmond with a nickname - "two salaries Salmond."

The strictures from Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson (Conservative) followed a similar lecture to by Speaker Michael Martin to Ms Goldie's UK leader David Cameron in Westminster yesterday for describing Gordon Brown as "phony" during PMQs.

Mr Salmond speculated that this may have been the first time a party has achieved the double.

Ms Goldie's questions were actually directed at the SNP's insistence (supported by all parties except the Tories) to push forward with free prescriptions for all. She claimed this would lead to £40 million of cuts in frontline health services.

Ironically, considering her foray into nicknames, she accused the First Minister of being "more interested in headlines and sound bites."

Mr Salmond gently reminded her that she and her party voted for the measure in the budget.

Earlier Labour leader Iain Gray accused Mr Salmond's government of not acting fast enough on apprenticeship guarantees. He raised the problems of a 19-year-old constituent Lewis Doig who could lose his apprenticeship just three months before he qualifies as a tradesman.

Tavish Scott, the Lib Dem leader, meanwhile pointed out that the UK government's economic recovery plan had the second least amount of green measures of any major economy after Spain. Mr Salmond happily agreed to publish the equivalent Scottish figures to prove his administration is better.

And stop press (although it was already in a popular tabloid this morning) the Scottish and UK governments at last agree on something- introducing legislation to stop more former prisoners from suing for compensation for having to slop out. In answer to a question from Nationalist MSP Stewart Maxwell (a former minister) Mr Salmond said that he would look at deducting board and lodgings from any compensation awarded.

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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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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