Drumlanrig: Rock star treatment suits Sturgeon to a T

NOW that Nicola Sturgeon is SNP leader, she is getting both the rock star and the star footballer treatment.
SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie. Picture: GettySNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie. Picture: Getty
SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie. Picture: Getty

Selling like hot-cakes from a stall in Perth conference hall are T-shirts branded “Sturgeon – the Tour”. They are referring to her speaking tour across Scotland, which will culminate in a sell-out gig in front of 12,000 fans at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow at the end of this week.

No doubt she could also fill a football stadium. If that were to happen, her supporters could don the fetching Scotland football jerseys also on sale. Rather than Maloney or Fletcher, emblazoned across the back is the name Sturgeon sitting above the number 15 (presumably a reference to the 2015 General Election).

Nationalists’ NEC hopeful has right royal connections

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AN INTRIGUING character yesterday stood for election to become an ordinary member of the SNP’s National Executive Council.

Looking to become a mover and shaker within the SNP was a certain James Mills.

According to his potted biography, Mills is “Former Butler to HM The Queen and Valet to the Scottish First Minister when staying at Balmoral Castle”.

One wonders what the Royal Household will make of his political convictions. There is no need to ask what his more radical SNP colleagues make of his former employers.

SNP chief well-prepared for Holyrood scrummages

THE elevation of Stewart Hosie to deputy leader of the SNP will see a few glasses raised at Forthill, home of Panmure Rugby Football Club.

Occasionally Hosie used to don his boots and turn out for the Broughty Ferry team and still enjoys the odd drink in the Forthill clubhouse. Hosie, however, is not the first politician to wear the maroon jersey in Panmure’s long history. At the turn of the last century, Sir George Cunningham played the odd game for Panmure. He went on to become governor of the North West Frontier in India. Cunningham’s sporting career was rather more distinguished than Hosie’s. From 1908 he played for Scotland eight times, even captaining the national team on the odd occasion.

Deputy leadership ballot puzzle for new recruits

SOME of the SNP’s army of new members were left somewhat perplexed when it came to voting in the party’s deputy leadership election.

Doubtless the tens of thousands of new members have signed up in the hope of securing a second referendum on Scotland leaving the UK. But when it came to voting for the party’s new deputy leader in a postal and online ballot, there was a prime example of pooling and sharing of resources across the UK.

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It emerged that the counting of votes in the election was carried out by a Southampton-based company. Mi-Voice Democracy Technology Ltd has previously run ballots for organisations such as the Camping and Caravanning Club – an organisation not normally associated with passionate Scottish nationalism.