Drumlanrig: Jeremy Corbyn | Lib Dems | SNP

Stories from the political sphere that you may have missed

AS SUPPORT for Corbyn continues to flood in, his Scottish prophet, Neil Findlay, became more and more animated – another sign that Britain’s most famous left-winger is being granted almost Messianic status by his followers.

Findlay suggested Corbyn might have divine powers when he told the Edinburgh audience that the Labour front-runner had brought sunshine to Aberdeen and Dundee when he attended rallies the day before in the North-East.

“The sun is going to shine here too,” Findlay prophesied, as the rain teemed down outside. “The rain is just to cool down some of our more excitable political opponents,” he declared.

The ebullient Findlay had obviously bounced back from a less edifying episode on the Aberdeen leg of the Corbyn tour when the MSP came under attack from a feisty female member for his chairing of the meeting.

“Excuse me, can you take some questions from some women?” she asked to applause. “Sorry sister, I most certainly will,” was Findlay’s sheepish response.

THE Liberal Democrat leader, Willie Rennie, is a fitness fanatic.

Such is his devotion to keeping in shape that he was runner-up in the 2006 coal-carrying championships held in Kelty.

To this day he can still be found out and about, jogging around his neighbouring Ochil hills.

Keeping to his regime proved challenging, however, on his recent holiday to Tenerife.

Forced to rise at the crack of dawn to enjoy his morning run before the heat became too intense, he then encountered a rather unpleasant unforeseen obstacle – the last of the drunks making their chaotic way home from the festivities the night before.

LIFE on the Jeremy Corbyn bandwagon, which careered through Scotland last week, has turned out to be terrifically exciting for his supporters.

“This is the hottest act on the fringe,” declared Neil Findlay, the Labour MSP chairing the Scottish leg of his campaign. It was not that much of an exaggeration.

The appearance of Corbyn at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre attracted bigger crowds than some nearby festival events. He even managed to do a wee bit of stand-up. He told the 400 or so supporters who turned up that his campaign had not accepted any corporate funding.

“Mind you, we weren’t offered any,” he added.

POLITICS is a vicious old game. Last week saw the SNP MSPs Colin Keir and Nigel (Moga) Don effectively deselected by their local parties. Keir’s replacement turns out to be an interesting fellow.

Keir was beaten in the battle to be SNP candidate in Edinburgh Western by Toni Giugliano, a Scots/Italian who fancies himself as a bit of a gourmet. In fact, Giugliano’s love of food saw him “star” on the long-running reality show Come Dine With Me back in 2010.

The publicity blurb for the episode filmed at Giugliano’s flat reveals that he cooked a rather unconventional menu featuring green cocktails and haggis pasta.

The dishes must have been very good, because Giugliano ended up winning the culinary contest.

Less attractive, however, was his habit of moaning about his fellow competitors’ offerings.

The programme’s publicists could not help remarking on that other contestants were “growing tired of his constant complaining during the week’s previous meals”.