Inside Holyrood - Tartan-tinted specs of political award judges blur recent history

Published on Sunday 16 November 2008 21:19

LAST week, much of Scotland's political elite, lobbyists and journalists got together for what might be their last free drink of the recession.

And as the champagne flowed, the question asked at the Scottish Political Awards was what had the judges been drinking? Whatever it was, most people wanted to avoid having any, or at least so much, of it.

But instead of beer goggles, it seemed the judges must have been wearing tartan specs that apparently blurred recent political history. Take the main prize – Scottish Politician of the Year. The shortlist consisted of the SNP's Holy Trinity of First Minister Alex Salmond (last year's winner), his deputy Nicola Sturgeon (the eventual winner) and finance secretary John Swinney.

It was as if the Glenrothes by-election and economic crisis had not happened, ending Mr Salmond's apparent invincibility and making the former economist look more like a punter who has just blown his mortgage on a long shot at Musselburgh. It was he who used Iceland as a model for independence, wrongly blamed "spivs and speculators" for HBOS's fall and in February declared: "Scottish banks are amongst the most stable financial institutions in the world."

And maybe the way Ms Sturgeon floundered over the C difficile crisis, which claimed the lives of many elderly patients, her first real test, and Mr Swinney got mired with local income tax and the Scottish Futures Trust were figments of the imagination.

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, who has been credited with saving the banking system and led one of the great political turnarounds with a thumping win in Glenrothes, had to settle for a runner-up position to his Chancellor, Alistair Darling, in the lesser Best Scot in Westminster category, aptly sponsored by HBOS.

But the tumbleweed really blew through the stunned banquet hall when Sir Sean Connery was named as International Scot of the Year, ahead of Britain's greatest Olympian and hero of Beijing, Chris Hoy.

Perhaps Mr Hoy's emotional tears of joy as the Union Flag was raised and support for a British rather than Scottish Olympic team were just too much for some of the six judges – it couldn't have been a lack of gold medals.

Afterwards, Tory MSP Jamie McGrigor cheekily suggested the judging panel was as objective as the one in the infamous case of Allan Breck Stewart, found guilty of the murder of a Campbell by a jury of 13 Campbells.

One deserved award for a Nationalist was Free Spirit of the Year for Professor Chris Harvie.

He has added rare colour this year by describing Lockerbie as a dump, Scottish teenagers as the worst-dressed in Europe, Blue Peter as evil and Hitler as imaginative – all reasons why he probably will not pick up any political awards after 2011 if his party's leaders have anything to do with it.

Hopes that report will advise tax powers to be dashed

HOPES that a report into the potential financial powers of the Scottish Parliament will recommend new tax-raising powers for Scotland are set to be dashed, Whitehall sources warned.

Instead, the report by Professor Anton Muscatelli for the Calman Commission is now expected only to lay out the options based on a study of devolution in other countries, such as Germany and Spain.

There had been hopes that Prof Muscatelli's sub-committee would make hard and fast recommendations on what new financial powers the Holyrood Parliament could take from Westminster, when it unveils its report today.

Even Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, had suggested that Scotland might have assigned taxes, so Holyrood would be more accountable for the money it raised. But, according to briefings received on behalf of UK ministers, Prof Muscatelli and his colleagues look set to sidestep the debate and simply lay out the options, leaving it to Prof Kenneth Calman and his fellow committee members to make any firm recommendations.

"If anybody is expecting recommendations, they will be disappointed," said a Whitehall source.

However, it is also believed that the option of full fiscal autonomy will not be presented because of concerns that it would break European Union rules that forbid variable rates on corporation tax in the same country.

Full fiscal autonomy had been pushed forward in particular by the Liberal Democrats.