Drumlanrig: Cameron milks it with Salmond wind-ups

David Cameron has enjoyed winding up his old referendum rival Alex Salmond during the election campaign. And the Prime Minister was at it again on Friday as he suffered microphone problems at an event at an Asda store in Leeds. As his voiced morphed into Dalek mode, the Tory leader quipped: “Sorry about that, it’s Alex Salmond coming in.”

It follows a recent reference to the ex-SNP leader as a pickpocket on ITV’s This Morning. This was swiftly followed by a Tory poster campaign on this theme, although the ex-SNP leader appeared to rather like the portrayal of him as the “Milk Tray man”.

Lib Dems at Fawlt over celebrity messages

The Liberal Democrats have been rolling out their celebrity backers in recent days, with Hollywood star Hugh Grant urging voters in Inverness to re-elect Danny Alexander.

But Fawlty Towers star John Cleese’s decision to adopt a mock-Scottish accent in a video endorsement for employment minister Jo Swinson in East Dunbartonshire proved more tragic than comic.

“And now a message for my friends in Scotland,” he booms in a plumby Scots twang, perhaps aimed at locals in the plush Milngavie and Bearsden neighbourhoods of the constituency.

“I would recommend that you vote for Jo Swinson because voting for her will do a great deal of good and help stop the SNP.”

In a tweet last week, Grant informed his friends and relations in Inverness they were “very lucky to have” Mr Alexander.

Rumours that Russ Abbot is being teed up to revive his “C U Jimmy” character for the party in the final few days of the campaign are, hopefully, unfounded.

Game for a helicopter view of austerity

Nicola Sturgeon’s helicopter tour of Scotland has raised eyebrows in light of her flagship anti-austerity message. And it caused some merriment at a Labour rally in Glasgow on Friday when deputy leader Kezia Dugdale apologised for delaying the scheduled start.

“I just couldn’t find anywhere to park my helicopter,” she said. The delay seemed to cause some agitation on the Labour front bench, with Scottish party leader Jim Murphy distracted by events at nearby Parkhead, where his beloved Celtic were playing Dundee United.

National party leader Ed Miliband quipped: “Jim’s told me he’s got the second half to catch – so I can’t go on too long.”

Labour spelling mistake taints Keir aura

The Scottish Labour Party has been desperate to burnish its socialist credentials as it sees the Scottish National Party eat into its traditional vote across urban Scotland.

The names of all the party greats have been trotted out – Jennie Lee, Donald Dewar, John Smith, Keir Hardie – in a last-ditch attempt to press Labour buttons in the minds of switherers. A tad disappointing, then, that in a press release highlighting a speech being made by Ed Miliband, Scottish Labour managed to spell incorrectly the name of the party’s founding father as “Kier” Hardie.

What’s that spinning sound?

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