When two tribes go to war (part four)

Stuart vs Grahame vs Purvis vs Brownlee


Appropriate that this is part 4 given that all four of the main political parties are locking horns in arguably the tightest constituency of all the 73 seats.

I have this image of sprawling red, blue, orange and yellow armies all converging on a large grassy plain. Fierce battles ensue. Howls of pain, bursts of anger, dirty tactics amidst all of the general mayhem.

And finally, the dust settles, the cacophony of noise dies down to eventual silence and one lady remains. Christine Grahame. She dusts herself down, stretches out to ease the odd ache or pain and then wanders off to find where the SNP post-election party is.

Or maybe I am slightly overestimating how passionate those in the shires of Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale can get.


However you want to look at it, this is a great seat to be involved in. The results in 2003 were:

Jeremy Purves (Lib Democrats) - 7,197
Christine Grahame (SNP) - 6,659
Lady Catherine Stuart (Labour) - 5,757
Derek Brownlee - (Conservative)- 5,686

(with thanks to www.alba.org.uk)


And as you'll have noticed, the same faces have returned for 2007.


Derek Brownlee is a current Conservative MSP. He was able to join the parliament after David Mundell (ex-MSP) won the local seat in the Westminster elections. Derek, being next on the regional list, therefore won his place in Holyrood. He is the finance spokesperson for the Conservatives and has a penchant for highlighting just how much cash Holyrood is 'wasting'. With a nation of Scottish people who supposedly have short arms and long pockets, it's probably not a bad approach to take.

Lady Catherine Maxwell Stuart, 21st Laird of Traquair is the only contender in 2003 who didn't make it into Holyrood. Not sure if the voters will have some sympathy for her given this fact but sometimes I find it hard to feel sorry for someone who is a Lady or is the 21st laird of anywhere. Then again, she does get my sympathies for being stuck in a position of being anti-establishment and having these titles foisted upon her.

Anyway, Lady Catherine runs Traquair Brewery in Innerleithen and also runs Traquair House. I did a quick search for this and it has bags of history related to it, far too much to even begin putting on this post but anyone with 5 minutes to spare should read this - http://www.aboutscotland.com/traquair/history.html

It does make me wonder why Lady Catherine is standing for Labour and not as a member of the SNP but each to their own. Either way, I have certainly added Traquair House to my places to visit list. And from the various quotes I've read about Lady Catherine, she seems quite a character. Doc Martin boots and a tattoo? I wasn't expecting that when I typed her name into Google, that's what I get for making swift judgements about people I suppose. (Yes, public admonishment is part of the learning process)

To be honest, for such an interesting character, I am half tempted to make this seat a Labour tactical voting effort, especially as the other 3 contenders will be MSPs whatever happens. But no, think big Jeff, no more Jack McConnell and a fresh SNP government mixing things up is the way forward.


So with that in mind, we turn to Christine Grahame. Shadow minister for social justice. An ex-solicitor and ex-teacher and one of the bigger personalities in the SNP. I always like to do a Google Search for the more interesting people who are standing and, unfortunately, all I could really find of tongue-in-cheek value was a piece in the SoS about Heroes and Villains. Not only was Christine the villain, but to really rub it in George W Bush was the hero.

Christine's offence was to complain about the coverage the English Ashes team were getting. On one hand, it's a total waste of time raising this motion as noone really cares how much coverage they get though on the other hand, I was a bit peeved that the whole cricket team were awarded OBEs in 2005. Now, given they got gubbed 5-0 on the away leg, does that mean they have to hand them back?

Anyway, Christine is a popular person around this constitutency and will be hopeful of snatching victory from…..

Jeremy Purvis - the sitting Lib Dem MSP. He was only 29 when he won in 2003 making him the youngest MSP in Holyrood. I believe there is a 19 year old Tory standing in Coatbridge and Chryston but, personally, I don't fancy his chances. Anyway, Jeremy has not held any posts within the LibLab administration it seems but I did manage to find some info on a policy proposal of his to allow physician-assisted suicide. In the end it didn't get significant MSP support. Shame really, these are the kinds of things a Scottish Parliament could push through with the backing of the public and show why devolution is working. Too often it seems an MSPs feet stay too still for fear that they put a foot wrong. Relentless media onslaughts and a generally pessimistic public doesn't help of course.

I was wondering recently how different Scotland would be without devolution. Not really that much different was the depressing conclusion. Hopefully from 2007 onwards, radical ideas like this one will get more of an airing in the debating chamber. And catch the public's attention.

But this blog is all about having a bit of an SNP bias, so it would be remiss of me as an SNP fan not to include the following quote from the Scotland on Sunday -

This air of cover-up was added to by his Liberal colleague, Jeremy Purves, whose slithering defence of the Executive was a deeply unpleasant illustration of all that is wrong with Scottish politics today. A young man with no experience but plenty of guile who clearly thinks it is not only clever, but right, to put party advantage before honesty and principle, he should be hanging his head in silent shame - not preening himself on the front benches.

Damn. I just noticed that although it was the Scotland on Sunday, the piece was penned by one Mike Russell. Not a coincidence, it's the former SNP MSP.

Well, here is the link anyway - http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=333062006



And that is that, a genuine 4-way seat. Those Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderians don't know how lucky they are.