Retiring MSPs (Updated)

I wrote a post in June listing the MSPs who had announced they would stand down in May's Scottish Parliament election, along with a list of those who may be considering it.  The list of those who had announced their retirement by that point was:

Jamie Stone (LD, Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross - 2 June 2010)

Ian McKee (SNP, Lothians - 29 May 2010)

Bill Aitken (Con, Glasgow Region - 19 May 2010)

Robin Harper (Green, Lothians - 13 September 2009)

John Farquhar Munro (LD, Ross, Skye & Inverness West - 2008)

Chris Harvie (SNP, Mid Scotland & Fife - 2007: one term)

Subsequently, the following MSPs have announced they will also stand down:

George Foulkes (Lab, Lothians - 18 August 2010)

Ted Brocklebank (Con, Mid Scotland & Fife - 4 August 2010)

Trish Godman (Lab, West Renfrewshire  - 4 August 2010)

Rhona Brankin (Lab, Midlothian - 7 July 2010)

Andrew Welsh (SNP, Angus - 10 June 2010)

Jim Mather (SNP, Argyll & Bute - 5 June 2010)

Alasdair Morgan (SNP, South of Scotland - June 2010)

Cathy Jamieson (Lab, Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley - 17 May 2010)

Margaret Curran (Lab, Glasgow Baillieston - May 2010?)

That, by my count, makes 15 MSPs retiring.  Of those 15, I'd suggest age to be the predominant factor in 11 of the cases, with 3 leaving to pursue politics in other places (London) and one (Rhona Brankin) hoping to do something similar.

I still think there are a few more who may be considering giving up their Holyrood salary (as I mentioned in my previous post) including:

Jack McConnell (given peerage 29 May 2010)

Nanette Milne (Con, North-East Scotland - age 68)

Mary Scanlon (Con, Highlands & Islands - age 62)

Jamie McGrigor (Con, Highlands & Islands - age 60)

Helen Eadie (Lab, Dunfermline East - age 63)

Nicol Stephen (LD, Aberdeen South - family)

And, I assume, with boundary changes, there will be some, ahem, "enforced" retirements in the sense that some MSPs will not be re-selected by their branches.  I have heard some rumours of this happening already, but no confirmation as yet.  And there will be the inevitable scramble for list places as well, a favoured bloodsport of political journalists.

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MSP Website Directory

The following is a list of MSPs with websites and a link to their site (as well as a list of those without websites/ those who have websites that haven't been updated for a year or the link is "under construction"). Hope it is useful. Let me know if I've missed any, or if you discover any more Twitterers... they're often interesting...

UPDATE - thanks to Haley for pointing out Dave Thompson's website, to Montague for pointing out Mike Russell's new-er site and to Holyrood Patter for Tavish Scott's Twitter...

They're also in the sidebar on the far-right of the page.

(101)MSPs with websites:

Brian Adam SNP ~ Aberdeen North

Wendy Alexander Lab ~ Paisley North

Alasdair Allan SNP ~ Western Isles

Claire Baker Lab ~ Mid Scotland and Fife (Twitter)

Richard Baker Lab ~ North East Scotland

Sarah Boyack Lab ~ Edinburgh Central

Ted Brocklebank Con ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Keith Brown SNP ~ Ochil

Robert Brown LD ~ Glasgow

Derek Brownlee Con ~ South of Scotland

Bill Butler Lab ~ Glasgow Anniesland

Aileen Campbell SNP ~ South of Scotland

Malcolm Chisholm Lab ~ Edinburgh North and Leith

Cathie Craigie Lab ~ Cumbernauld and Kilsyth

Bruce Crawford SNP ~ Stirling

Roseanna Cunningham SNP ~ Perth

Margaret Curran Lab ~ Glasgow Baillieston

Nigel Don SNP ~ North East Scotland

Bob Doris SNP ~ Glasgow

Helen Eadie Lab ~ Dunfermline East

Fergus Ewing SNP ~ Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber

Linda Fabiani SNP ~ Central Scotland

Patricia Ferguson Lab ~ Glasgow Maryhill

Alex Fergusson PO ~ Galloway and Upper Nithsdale

Ross Finnie LD ~ West of Scotland

Joe FitzPatrick SNP ~ Dundee West

George Foulkes Lab ~ Lothians (Twitter)

Murdo Fraser Con ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Kenneth Gibson SNP ~ Cunninghame North

Rob Gibson SNP ~ Highlands and Islands

Karen Gillon Lab ~ Clydesdale

Marlyn Glen Lab ~ North East Scotland (Twitter)

Charlie Gordon Lab ~ Glasgow Cathcart

Christine Grahame SNP ~ South of Scotland

Rhoda Grant Lab ~ Highlands and Islands

Iain Gray Lab ~ East Lothian

Robin Harper Green ~ Lothians

Christopher Harvie SNP ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Patrick Harvie Green ~ Glasgow (Twitter)

Hugh Henry Lab ~ Paisley South

Jamie Hepburn SNP ~ Central Scotland

Jim Hume LD ~ South of Scotland (Twitter)

Fiona Hyslop SNP ~ Lothians

Adam Ingram SNP ~ South of Scotland

Cathy Jamieson Lab ~ Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley

Alex Johnstone Con ~ North East Scotland

James Kelly Lab ~ Glasgow Rutherglen

Bill Kidd SNP ~ Glasgow

Johann Lamont Lab ~ Glasgow Pollok (blog)

John Lamont Con ~ Roxburgh and Berwickshire

Kenny MacAskill SNP ~ Edinburgh East and Musselburgh

Lewis Macdonald Lab ~ Aberdeen Central

Margo MacDonald Ind ~ Lothians

Ken Macintosh Lab ~ Eastwood

Paul Martin Lab ~ Glasgow Springburn

Michael Matheson SNP ~ Falkirk West

Stewart Maxwell SNP ~ West of Scotland

Liam McArthur LD ~ Orkney

Frank McAveety Lab ~ Glasgow Shettleston

Tom McCabe Lab ~ Hamilton South

Jack McConnell Lab ~ Motherwell and Wishaw

Jamie McGrigor Con ~ Highlands and Islands

Alison McInnes LD ~ North East Scotland

Ian McKee SNP ~ Lothians

Christina McKelvie SNP ~ Central Scotland

Anne McLaughlin SNP ~ Glasgow (Twitter)

David McLetchie Con ~ Edinburgh Pentlands

Stuart McMillan SNP ~ West of Scotland

Duncan McNeil Lab ~ Greenock and Inverclyde

Pauline McNeill Lab ~ Glasgow Kelvin

Nanette Milne Con ~ North East Scotland

Des McNulty Lab ~ Clydebank and Milngavie

Margaret Mitchell Con ~ Central Scotland

Mary Mulligan Lab ~ Linlithgow

Elaine Murray Lab ~ Dumfries (Twitter)

Alex Neil SNP ~ Central Scotland

John Park Lab ~ Mid Scotland and Fife (Twitter)

Gil Paterson SNP ~ West of Scotland

Peter Peacock Lab ~ Highlands and Islands

Cathy Peattie Lab ~ Falkirk East

Mike Pringle LD ~ Edinburgh South

Jeremy Purvis LD ~ Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale

Shona Robison SNP ~ Dundee East
Michael Russell SNP ~ South of Scotland

Mary Scanlon Con ~ Highlands and Islands

Tavish Scott LD ~ Shetland (Twitter)

Richard Simpson Lab ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Elaine Smith Lab ~ Coatbridge and Chryston

Iain Smith LD ~ North East Fife

Margaret Smith LD ~ Edinburgh West

Shirley-Anne Somerville SNP ~ Lothians

Stewart Stevenson SNP ~ Banff and Buchan

David Stewart Lab ~ Highlands and Islands

John Swinney SNP ~ North Tayside

Dave Thompson SNP ~ Highlands and Islands

Jim Tolson LD ~ Dunfermline West

Sandra White SNP ~ Glasgow

Karen Whitefield Lab ~ Airdrie and Shotts

David Whitton Lab ~ Strathkelvin and Bearsden

Bill Wilson SNP ~ West of Scotland

John Wilson SNP ~ Central Scotland (Twitter)

(28) MSPs with no website or real web presence:

Bill Aitken Con ~ Glasgow

Jackie Baillie Lab ~ Dumbarton

Rhona Brankin Lab ~ Midlothian

Gavin Brown Con ~ Lothians

Jackson Carlaw Con ~ West of Scotland

Willie Coffey SNP ~ Kilmarnock and Loudoun

Angela Constance SNP ~ Livingston

Trish Godman Lab ~ West Renfrewshire

Annabel Goldie Con ~ West of Scotland

Andy Kerr Lab ~ East Kilbride

Marilyn Livingstone Lab ~ Kirkcaldy

Richard Lochhead SNP ~ Moray

Tricia Marwick SNP ~ Central Fife

Jim Mather SNP ~ Argyll and Bute

Michael McMahon Lab ~ Hamilton North and Bellshill

Alasdair Morgan SNP ~ South of Scotland

John Farquhar Munro LD ~ Ross, Skye and Inverness West

Hugh O’Donnell LD ~ Central Scotland

Irene Oldfather Lab ~ Cunninghame South

Mike Rumbles LD ~ West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

Alex Salmond SNP ~ Gordon

John Scott Con ~ Ayr

Elizabeth Smith Con ~ Mid Scotland and Fife

Nicol Stephen LD ~ Aberdeen South

Jamie Stone LD ~ Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross

Nicola Sturgeon SNP ~ Glasgow Govan

Maureen Watt SNP ~ North East Scotland

Andrew Welsh SNP ~ Angus

Depending if this is useful, I may do the same with Scottish MPs.

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The Show Must Go On

So, 38% of our MSPs could find something better to do on a sunny July afternoon than listen Her Majesty blether on. Most of them were probably watching Andy Murray at Wimbledon.

Can't say I blame them to be honest. I was invited to the garden party at Balmoral in 2002... and was all set to phone and give my apologies until my mother stepped in. Apparently it "wouldn't look good" not to attend, and so attend I did. Ate her strawberry sandwiches, some Mackies ice cream and tried not to look out of place. MSPs didn't really worry about it how it would look yesterday.

Political commentators are having a bit of fun with it though. It's everything from a "snub" to a "scandal" that only 81 of the 129 MSPs showed up to listen to the Queen deliver her speech celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the opening of the Parliament.

For me though, it demonstrates two things. Firstly, that the monarchy is obsolete and that the Queen has no place in twenty-first century Scotland. And secondly, that nearly 40% of MSPs agree - including, it should be pointed out, 26 from Unionist parties. Now, I'm not trying to conflate being unionist with being royalist, but I would argue that the monarchy is a large part of why the Union was made - and remains a fairly visible symbol of it.

The SNP have been at pains to point out that, in their vision of an independent Scotland the Queen (and her successors) would remain Head of State in Scotland. The party want to have a referendum on the constituntional future of the country - how we should be governed - but have no problems taking this decision out the hands of ordinary Scots.

Republican elements within the party (Roseanna Cunningham and Christine Grahame spring to mind instantly) disagree with the party line on this yet the party appear either to think that they constitute a minority of the population on the issue, or they don't think the issue is important. Either way, the Scottish public apparently will not be consulted on whether - post independence - they wish to remain under the crown or become a republic.

Based on yesterday's turnout, the second option may well have some support among MSPs.

UPDATE - Alan Cochrane has his own inimitable take on it here.

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