Ben Wallace: Captain Fantastic heads south of the border

BEN Wallace acquired the nickname Captain Fantastic before he was elected to the Scottish parliament.

It had something to do with his rather secretive military background - earning a mention in dispatches after a brush with a terrorist unit in Northern Ireland and leaving the Scots Guards after being wounded during a gun battle.

It also had something to do with his energy and drive - but was probably more to do with his ability to attract the topless model, Jo Guest, to open a Tory fte in rural Aberdeenshire.

Mr Wallace, 31, will not be standing for the Scottish parliament in 2003, preferring to track down a safe seat for Westminster south of the Border.

He has not always been on-message, a habit which has often exasperated his party leaders, but he has always been a colourful, quotable, young Tory - and there are not very many of those around.

For a man who likes gangster films, action thriller novels and My Fair Lady, yet whose dress sense is reminiscent of the 1920s, he is not a typical MSP.

The Scottish parliament will certainly be a quieter and more restrained place without him.