So now even political advisers are starting to look a lot younger

Jennifer Dempsie, 25, has been appointed a media spin doctor, Geoff Aberdein, 24, will liaise between the parliament and the government, and John McFarlane, 25, has been given a key policy development role.

The three new advisers are inexperienced, but Mr Salmond obviously sees great potential in them, hoping that the political acumen of such old hands as Kevin Pringle, Stephen Noon and Noel Dolan can bring them up to speed quickly.

They are part of the team of special advisers announced by Mr Salmond yesterday.These are the people who work behind the scenes, bridging the gap between the party, the government and the parliament, developing policy and selling the government's message.

It is a much leaner and less expensive team than the ones employed by the previous Executives.

Mr Salmond unveiled eight special advisers, four fewer than the 12 employed by Jack McConnell and Nicol Stephen, but of the eight, two have only part-time jobs and one is on a short-term contract.

So there are only five full-time special advisers for the new government, three of whom are under 30.

One of the team , either Mr Noon the chief policy adviser, or Mr Pringle, is understood to be earning the maximum for a special adviser - between 84,000 and 100,000.

The rest are earning between 38,100 and 81,000, with Professor Sir Neil McCormick, Mr Salmond's new adviser on Europe, unpaid and Duncan Hamilton, Mr Salmond's new political adviser, being paid only on a part-time basis.

The announcement of the team represents a political comeback of sorts for Mr Hamilton, who was one of the rising stars of the first parliament before leaving front-line politics to pursue a career in the law.

The annual cost to the taxpayer of the new advisers will be 425,156. This compares with the special advisers in the previous administration, who cost an annual 772,395.

Backroom staff with plenty of depth

STEPHEN Noon, 36, senior policy adviser, is a calm and clever strategist, known as a safe pair of hands.

He became a surprise headline himself when he was sacked as press secretary to the head of the Catholic Church in England over his sexuality. He joined the Britain in Europe campaign before being lured back to the SNP, for which he worked earlier.

Duncan Hamilton was the youngest MSP in the parliament when elected in 1999 at the age of 26. A champion debater, he was seen as the bright young star of the SNP's intake. He stood down from Holyrood to train as a lawyer in 2003. Four years into his law career, Mr Hamilton has been lured back - part-time.

Professor Sir Neil McCormick, 66, has been an SNP stalwart for many years and was an MEP between 1999 and 2004. Professor of public law at Edinburgh University since 1972, he is a legal expert on the European Union.

He has agreed to take up a part-time, unpaid, role advising the new government on Europe and external relations.

Kevin Pringle, 39, has been working behind the scenes for the SNP since 1989, when he was 21. His career has been closely tied to Alex Salmond. Mr Pringle took one break from the SNP, when he joined Scottish Gas in 2004 as corporate affairs manager but he left that job at the end of last year to return to the SNP as head of the leadership unit.

Noel Dolan, 55, is a former producer of political TV programmes. He will be Nicola Sturgeon's full-time special adviser.

JENNIFER DEMPSIE

JENNIFER Dempsie, 25, has been working for the SNP for just over two years. Born in Glasgow, she was educated in Stirling. She has a BA Hons in journalism from Napier University and is currently completing a part-time MSc in International and European Politics at Edinburgh University.

Before joining the SNP, she worked in PR, first in the arts for Edinburgh firm Tartan Silk and then for the cutting-edge Glasgow firm Burt Greener Communications, where she covered music promotions such as T in the Park.

This experience paid off in promoting the SNP to young people. She took Alex Salmond to T in the Park and organised the SNP Big Party with chart-topper Sandi Thom and up-and-coming band St Jude's Infirmary during the election campaign. She joined the SNP as a parliamentary press officer and has worked closely with Nicola Sturgeon.

GEOFF ABERDEIN

GEOFF Aberdein, 24, an adviser on diary issues and support for policy liaison officers, is a rising star in the SNP.

He graduated in politics and international relations from Aberdeen University, having worked for Alex Salmond's constituency office part-time. He had a rapid promotion to head of press at Westminster, before being dispatched back to Scotland as the SNP leader's "right-hand-man" and trusted gatekeeper. Steadfastly loyal and a political obsessive, Aberdein rebuffed the offer of a job with the New York Times to remain with the SNP.

JOHN McFARLANE

JOHN McFarlane is 26 and has worked for the SNP research unit in the Scottish Parliament since 2003. In government and policy terms, he is hugely inexperienced, but the SNP leadership expects great things from him.

He has been asked to help Stephen Noon, the party's policy guru, and is clearly in the fast track of the SNP structure. Mr McFarlane helped out in Nicola Sturgeon's successful election campaign in Govan and is

the one young adviser who owes his promotion more to her than to Alex Salmond.