Don't Kick A Man When He's the Last One Standing

Yesterday I was rightly reprimanded by one of my readers for not mentioning David Mundell and his current problems. My quick reply was that I'd always been told never to kick a man when he's the last one standing, but in Mr Mundell's case he's the only one standing, so I will make an exception.

Police have confirmed they are investigating a complaint of an alleged breach of election expenses rules by Scotland's only Tory MP. It follows a weekend report in the Sunday Herald that a bill for £799 had been omitted from Mr Mundell's campaign costs. Dumfries and Galloway constabulary said it had been asked to investigate.

Mr Mundell said a mistake had been made in completing expense forms but this was due "solely to human error" and was "not any attempt to mislead". He continued, "Such mistakes are not uncommon in election returns and there are established procedures for dealing with them".

Mr Mundell informed the electoral commission, who have an interest in such matters, as soon as it was drawn to his attention.

What is it with MPs that they can't fill in a form? They're very fortunate because they will possibly never have to apply for the likes of pension credit or any of these means-tested benefits which require the applicant to complete pages of personal detail.

As for the matter being brought to the attention of the electoral commission - this seems to be the standard defence from those found out. The electoral commission will slap him on the wrist and say, "naughty boy, don't do it again" and that will be that. Will his admission that he's committed this fraud cause him future problems? I doubt it even although this isn't the first time he's had problems with his expenses.

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David Mundell, Scottish Tory MP, Not Good Enough for Tory Cabinet

Senior tories don't think David Mundell, MP for Dumfriesshire since 2005, is enough of a heavy weight to warrant the job as Scottish Secretary should the tories win the next general election.

Their main fear is that Mr Mundell would be no match for Alex Salmond. After seeing his performance on the BBC1 programme The Big Debate last week, I don't think he's even a match for Jim Murphy so I completely understand the tories' concerns.

One tory source said, "Mundell is not Cabinet-level material, but getting rid of him presents the problem of a viable alternative." David Mundell has been the only tory MP in Scotland since 2005 and therefore will naturally expect the promotion and he must be choking on his cornflakes to read today's Sunday Herald.

Who would replace him as Scottish Secretary? It's thought the tories may gain around 6 Scottish seats at the next election but no tory heavyweights are candidates so it seems there is little choice from that group.

Another idea being discussed internally is to give a senior MSP a peerage and then the keys of the Scotland Office. David McLetchie? I think he enjoys his legal job too much to leave it for any length of time.

It must be embarrassing for Annabel Goldie and David Mundell to discover they had been left off the guest list of a private dinner, which took place at the Milngavie home of Sir Jack Harvie, the tories' key Scottish fundraiser. David Cameron attended alongside Lord Strathclyde, the tory leader in the Lords and around a dozen tory sympathisers in the business world.

Not really the way to cultivate relations with your Scottish colleagues Sir Jack, is it? Could it be that Scotland has already been written off David Cameron's list of 'things to do' and thus the current Scottish tory leadership don't matter?

Source: Sunday Herald

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