 | 'This is crass insensitivity to launch a political campaign on the day of Margaret's cremation.
"If Mary Scanlon really was Margaret's friend, then she should be ashamed of herself. Moray SNP will not be involved in political campaigning until a respectful period has passed.' Angus Robertson, SNP MP for Moray on Tory MSP Mary Scanlon's electioneering, 28 th March 2006. |  |
Two MSPs will leave Holyrood next month and only one will return as preparations began for the by-election in Moray caused by the death of Margaret Ewing.
Mary Scanlon, the Tory MSP, announced that she was prepared to resign her current list seat, as the law requires, in order to fight the by-election.
And the SNP's Richard Lochhead is likely to follow suit after his likely selection next weekend.
That will see Dave Petrie, a 59-year-old maths teacher, become the new Tory MSP on the Highlands list, when Ms Scanlon stands down.
Mr Petrie has fought three elections as a Conservative candidate, including Argyll and Bute three years ago, where he ended up second to the Liberal Democrats.
For the SNP, Alasdair Allan is next in line to replace Mr Lochhead but if, within the next fortnight, he wins the nomination to contest the Western Isles, it is believed he will turn down the chance of a year as an MSP on the North-east list, in which case Maureen Watt would take his place.
Ms Scanlon announced that she would be standing down as an MSP in order to contest the by-election, but there was fury after she pitched herself as a friend and natural successor to the SNP's Margaret Ewing.
The Tory had said: "I have admired Margaret's abilities in dealing with people over the 20 or so years she represented Moray, and in many ways I've tried to model myself on her."
Angus Robertson, MP for Moray, said last night: "This is crass insensitivity to launch a political campaign on the day of Margaret's cremation.
"If Mary Scanlon really was Margaret's friend, then she should be ashamed of herself. Moray SNP will not be involved in political campaigning until a respectful period has passed."
A spokesman for the parliament confirmed that a MSP who resigns for any reason receives no pay-off or pension, other than a winding-up allowance for office staff of less than £19,000.
Mrs Ewing was re-elected five times by the constituents of Moray and three years ago, in spite of her illness, won her biggest majority, 5312, after gaining a 3.2% swing from the Tories.
Mr Allan, 34, currently a press officer for the Church of Scotland, is the SNP's national secretary, while Ms Watt is a four-time parliamentary candidate and former Grampian councillor. Her father, Hamish, was an SNP MP in the 1970s.
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