Political geeks from far beyond Luton South have been getting terribly excited about the arrival of Esther Rantzen on twitter, with numerous tweeters taking the opportunity to ask Mrs. Rantzen the sort of questions she’s going to have to get used to if she’s running for Parliament. So I too decided to ask Mrs. Rantzen how many times she had visited Luton that didn’t involve the airport. Her response was as follows:

Had she given me something even vaguely resembling an answer then I’d probably left it be, but given that response was on a level of political cynicism that some of Westminster’s most seasoned politicos would struggle to reach I just had to follow it up.

So, first off, I have never been to Luton. I can’t anticipate that I ever will, nor do I particularly desire to. However the number of times that I’ve been to Luton is quite immaterial – I’m not standing for Parliament there. But as Esther is well aware of the fact that I’m also standing for parliament, albeit at the opposite end of the country, perhaps she’ll indulge us in a little comparison.

So come on then, Esther, you claim to be “passionate about Luton” – is your connection to Luton South as good as mine is to Moray??

Earlier this week Political Scrapbook drew our attention to the pitiful levels of ethnic diversity in the Liberal Democrats’ parliamentary party and amongst their candidates in winnable seats. However up here in Scotland they’re perhaps more notable for their severe lack of female parliamentarians.

In 2007, only 2 of the 16 Liberal Democrats (one-eighth) returned to the Scottish Parliament were women – a record high! This compares to over a quarter of SNP MSPs being women, almost a third of the Tories and exactly HALF of the Scottish Labour group.

In Westminster it’s easy to argue that the problem is institutional, and that the path to equal representation is a long one while old-timers like Malcolm Bruce, Charles Kennedy and Ming Campbell continue to hoard the safest seats. But Scotland’s was a new Parliament with no incumbents, presenting a unique opportunity for equality from the outset. An opportunity the Liberal Democrats failed to embrace.

The Liberal Democrats need to get their own house in order before accusing Labour of failing on equality matters.

Still, they can take some consolation in having the highest proportion of weirdos in parliament.

I’ve put my lawyer hat on for this post so expect it to be a little bit boffin-esque in places.

The ultimate fate of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, has become a political hot-potato in the past few weeks. And while opposition politicians, including Labour’s Justice Spokesman Richard Baker, have attempted to make political hay out of the issue little consideration has been given to the difficult balancing act being performed by the Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. The issues Mr. MacAskill has to consider include:

• The fact of Mr. Megrahi’s severe illness;
• The considerable distance between him and his family;
• The fact that any other criminal convicted of any other crime would likely be serving his sentence in his home country;
• The scale of the crime for which he has been convicted;
• The overwhelming body of evidence that suggests an injustice has been done.

Mr. MacAskill I know to have had a long career as a pursuer reparation solicitor (ambulance chaser) and therefore has the requisite legal mind to exercise the quasi-judicial powers of Justice Secretary. Those of us in opposition parties would do well to remember that this is not a political matter, and that Mr. MacAskill nor the SNP Government have nothing to gain politically from releasing Mr. Megahi.

Scottish Labour has attempted to make an issue out of the unprecedented visit paid by the Justice Secretary to Greenock Prison, but the fact is that this whole scenario is without precedent. I don’t blame the Justice Secretary for wanting to see with his own eyes the condition of Mr. Megrahi, given the importance of the decision he has before him.

Meanwhile, Tavish Scott has tried to score points by asking for parliament to be recalled. Again this achieves nothing, as the release of prisoners is a function for the Executive to consider, and not the legislature. Mr. MacAskill should be left to consider the matter free from the political pressure that would inevitably be applied by parliament.

Secretary Clinton: wrong for once

And finally, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would do well to remember that this is absolutely none of her business, and her unusual intervention is an unwelcome intrusion into domestic matters. Megrahi is a Libyan man, convicted of committing a crime in Scotland by a Scottish court and held in a Scottish prison. The fact that American citizens were amongst the victims of the Lockerbie Bombing is immaterial.

I have every confidence that Mr. Megrahi will be freed soon – quite possibly by the end of the week. While this will not be the satisfactory conclusion that so many seek, it would go a long way to righting what most people accept is one of the greatest miscarriages of Scots justice.

It has always been a source of great dismay for me that the truly-excellent online almanac for all things relating to Scottish politics is also a nationalist propaganda machine that wouldn’t look out of place in North Korea. Imagine my glee therefore when I discovered this antiquated page on alba.org.uk attacking the then First Minister Henry McLeish, who was still a Westminster member, for being ‘Scotland’s Laziest MP’:

Sound familiar? Well who do you suppose now holds the title of Scotland’s Laziest (and worst value) MP? Why it’s the Rt Honourable Member for Banff & Buchan (part-time) of course!

Salmond: laughing all the way to the bank.

The Scottish edition of the Sunday Times is today leading with a story that Alex Salmond’s dual role as both an MP and MSP will cost the taxpayer AT LEAST £145,000.

Dual mandate members are entitled to claim the higher Westminster salary in full, as well as one-third of their Holyrood salary. Alex Salmond presently donates the Holyrood component of his salary to a charitable trust – a nice gesture – but it still means that he gets paid in-excess of £8,000 more than his fellow MSPs. The Times also alledges that Salmond has accrued more than £55,000 in pension contributions from Westminster.

Salmond, as ever, attempts to explain away his greed by saying that the people of Banff & Buchan knew of his plans to serve a full parliamentary term should he be elected to Holyrood in 2007 – although I doubt most electors thought that Mr. Salmond would abuse his dual mandate like he has. The SNP also has a go at the Tories for fielding MSPs as Westminster candidates who, if elected, would also hold a dual mandate. The Nats of course fail to point out that the only MSP ever to be subsequently elected to Westminster, the Tories’ David Mundell, immediately resigned from Holyrood after the 2005 election.

Of course this isn’t Salmond’s first stint with a dual-mandate. Alex Salmond was one of 15 MPs who were elected to Holyrood in 1999, before he quit in 2001. Back then he represented the same constituency in both Parliaments, but since 2007 he has represented the neighbouring constituency of Gordon in Holyrood while still purporting to represent the people of Banff & Buchan (and all this while acting as a pundit on the Daily Politics First Minister of Scotland!)

Were Alex Salmond to resign from Westminster there’s little doubt that the SNP would romp home the ensuing by-election with something close to a-million percent of the vote. Of course, Salmond wouldn’t be able to claim the £65,000 resettlement package members get when they stand down at the end of a parliament.

It’s the weekend and I haven’t blogged for a few days, which therefore means it’s time for some more mindless filler and no category of post better fits that criteria than my ‘Political Best Dressed’. Next up is without question the best dressed woman in politics (and she’s not even a politician) Sarah Brown.

Mrs. Brown exudes class and poise in everything that she does. Without trying she has defined the role of the perfect Prime-Ministerial spouse, and the dignity that she has brought to what is normally a thankless job is reflected in what she wears. At the risk of appearing in O.B.N., Sarah Brown is a natural beauty who would struggle to look bad in an old bin-bag. Nonetheless Mrs. Brown has managed to grab the public’s attention with her choice of attire.

Bitchy Gossip columnists at the Daily Mail might not be impressed – but this commentator certainly is.

[Sarah Brown is an advocate for many worthwhile causes, most notably the Million Mums campaign. Be sure to follow her @SarahBrown10 on Twitter.]

Peter Mandelson is the marmite of Labour politics – you either love him or hate him. I’m sure few people who know me will be surprised to learn that I fall into the former category (although I still hate marmite).

1960s Batman Villain 'Louie the Lilac'.

Tony Blair once famously said that his work would be complete when the Labour Party learned to love Peter Mandelson – but could the party ever love him enough to make him leader? The newly anointed First Secratry of State has certainly been through the most remarkable rehabilitation. Only a few years ago Peter Mandelson was a pariah in British politics akin to a comic book villain. Twice sacked from the Cabinet (although the second one was a bit unfair) his appointment as EU Trade Commissioner was expected to be the epitaph of his domestic political career. However this was not to be the case.

Mandelson’s stint as Trade Commissioner was the beginning of his rehabilitation. In an extremely powerful yet oddly low-profile job Peter Mandelson managed to build a reputation as more than just a glorified spin-doctor, and became a weighty figure on the global stage. His widely publicised feud with French President Nicholas Sarkozy certainly did him no harm in the eyes of the British public.

However his rehabilitation in the eyes of the Labour party is a more recent development. Since returning as Baron Mandelson of Hartlepool and Foy he has been credited with saving the skin on his former nemesis Gordon Brown on numerous occasions, and in doing so demonstrated a loyalty to the Labour party that’s bigger than any indivual. His reward was to be made the most powerful Government minister in modern history.

But would the Labour party ever really elect him leader? It would certainly require a bizarre set of circumstances for it ever to be conceivable – but we live in exceptional times. Naturally the unions wouldn’t back him, and I struggle to see the CLPs going for him either. But what if the parliamentary party – and more specifically the cabinet – were to act unilaterally? At no time in history has the office of First Lord of the Treasury been vacant for more than a few days. Leadership elections take months. So what if Brown were to resign effective immediately? What if the cabinet recommended the queen appoint Lord Mandelson ‘Acting Prime Minister’ and then began the process of making it more permanent? What if he dissolved parliament and ran in a seat? And what if Mandelson led the Labour party to victory?

There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in these scenarios, but if anyone who has a nack for defying the odds it’s Mandelson.

Not content with his recently acquired post-nominal letters, Nick Griffin MEP has begun styling himself “Chairman Nick Griffin”. In addition to appearing on the front-page of the BNP’s website Griffin’s new style also appears at the bottom of all his communiques.

Proponents of the horseshoe theory will hardly be surprised by Griffin trying to cast himself in a Chairman Mao-type role, however I sincerely doubt that the President of the United States will be rushing over to Brussels to meet with “Chairman Griffin” any time soon.

Hat-tip: Daniel Trilling in this week’s New Statesman

In the first of what I’m sure will be many appreciations (and indeed depreciations) of matters of sartorial in politics, former First Sea-Lord turned national security minister Sir Alan West truly is a favourite of mine. Sir Alan, now Lord West of Spithead (make up your own joke about that one) is the only member of the government you’ll see with a detachable collar, which is always well complimented with a perfectly-pinned silk tie. The four button double-breasted waistcoats are perfect for concealing the podge that comes to all of us in politics eventually. Ken Clarke take note.

“Councillor Hogg, a member for the Heldon & Laich ward, claimed the General Assembly had fudged the issue of ordaining openly practising homosexuals.”

Moray Councillor John Hogg isn’t a man famed for his sense of humour however this particular extract from his otherwise not-very-funny rant about homosexuals and their “medically dangerous practices” is a pun of the very best tabloid standard. Could we be looking at the next headline-editor of the famous Bastien of Christian values that is The News of the World?

Read the article online here.