(511)  TAXI FOR MR McLETCHIE

 

David McLetchie resigned as leader of the Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament on 31 October 2005, as the story about his Parliamentary expenses claims for taxi rides, elicited from the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body by the Press using the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, continued to dog him (see previously No 505).  The total claims amounted to some £11,000 in the end, although someone pointed out that this averaged out at £6 a day since 2000, a sum which won’t get you very far in Edinburgh taxis at least.  The Scottish Tories moved quite quickly to avoid a leadership contest: Annabel Goldie, who had been McLetchie’s deputy, moved up to the top job, while Murdo Fraser, a right-winger who had been seen as a possible contender, became the deputy.  Both Goldie and Fraser are solicitors, like McLetchie himself, and also Nichol Stephen, leader of the LibDems.  Nicola Sturgeon, who leads the SNP in the Parliament, is a Glasgow LLB.  This leaves only Labour, the Scottish Socialists and the Greens without a lawyerly person to lead them: Scots Law News wonders whether this says more about the parties concerned or lawyerly persons in general.  And where is the Bar?