Tories find that whisky policy is ajar

You know, you have to hand it to the Scottish Conservative Party, they tend to be relatively loathe to jump on a bandwagon.

The Lib Dems do it so often they don't which they are facing a lot of the time, the Labour party have picked up a worrying upwards trend for it and even the SNP do it from time to (ahem) time.

But it seems the Tories are making up for lost time with their latest assault on the headlines.

With the battle for Diageo jobs coming to a conclusion and the political spotlight quite firmly on Salmond, Murphy, Coffey and Browne, it's clear that someone at Scottish Tory HQ decided they should muscle in on the scene before it's too late.

The recent news stories that "plans for minimum alcohol prices could destroy the Scotch whisky industry" have a very clear aim and they are thoroughly misleading. By trying to link public anger at Diageo to SNP moves to incerase 'pocket money prices' for alcohol, the Tories have inadvertently exposed themselves.

Whisky is a premium product. By all means David McLetchie could stand up for Buckfast and White Lightning Cider jobs if he really wants to but to suggest that our most successful Scottish whisky brands will see their prices increase by even a single penny, just to get involved in the Diageo jobs story, is pretty shallow.

The balance in favour of minimum pricing seems to be shifting towards implementation and the Tories will gain respect if they stick to their position of opposing it, but only if they do so without resorting to hyperbole.