"Of course I want you to stay but you must do what is best for your family,"

Trans: "Resign now before you are hounded to death by the baying press."

time for another el reg proscription "administrated" - no such word, perhaps you mean "administered" ?

The Gord giveth, and the Gord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Gord.

Wendy Alexander did bugger-all to become Scottish Labour leader so if she's done anything at all to be booted out, then the balance is not in her favour.

Can broadly be translated into 'the pearl-handled revolver is in the topmost drawer of your desk.'

There is no such thing as Scottish Labour Leader (other than Gordon Brown). Just about every news outlet has this wrong (including the BBC I believe). The labour party are the only one of the scottish 'big 4' parties who do not have a scottish subsidiary party. Wendy Alexander is the Leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish parliament or the leader of the opposition (at this rate for a long time) in the Scottish parliament.

Chris

... after her dramatic and unexpected acquittal today, Wendy Alexander gave a press conference on the steps of the courtroom, in which she announced she was going to dedicate her life to searching for "the real donor" ...

Isn't there quite a bit missing from this story?

This particular, nasty, typical Labour kitchen-sink drama's been staggering along for quite some time now (it's "got legs" right enough but they're blotchy, varicose-veined ones to be sure).

I recall reading in one of Scotland's finest fish 'n chip wrappers that Wicked Wendy had, in fact, written quite a nice Thank You note to the kind donor - and addressed it to his place of residence (in the Channel Islands, I think?). In a fit of amnesia that Canoe Man would be proud of, Wicked Wendy - of course - does not recall ever noticing the address.

Now, after many weeks of having to put up with the impertinence of the law-abiding - and with a barely-concealed "Ta-dah!" - Wicked Wendy bounces back with an MS Word metadata tag of 'Permissible?' in a file, on a computer, maintained by...........oh this is almost too yummy..........her husband!

Now, given that your average pol wouldn't recognise a computer if his callgirl dropped on on his willie I'm bound to suspect that whiffing words like 'tag' and 'metadata' all around the hallowed halls of The Shipwreck in Hollyrood is meant to do nothing more than quiet the hounds (chihuahuas, actually) currently baying (well, yipping, actually) for Wicked Wendy's resignation.

My oh my, it is pantomime season, isn't it?

Since when has "Unintentional wrongdoing" been a defence in either English or Scottish law? Or is it a defence reserved exclusively for politicians?

all the arrogance of being in power too long.

I'm just waiting for the day that one of them is found in a wardrobe, in suspenders, tied up with an orange in their mouth.....

The Wendy henchman who 'sorted' this out for her is as trustable as 'Arfur Daly'. On resigning from Glasgow City Communistol, he announced that he had no political aspirations for the Scottish Parliament. Merely 6 months later he's up for a by-election!

He must've known that this was dodgy, but obviously thought 'we'll get away with it'.

She's responsible for the actions of her party. That's why she needs to go.......

(and please dear El Reg readers enlighten a poor aussie lad)

Why on earth would a person or company donate money to a political party unless they were planning on receiving something in return?

What does £950 get someone? A street named after them? A thank you letter and a reduction in council tax? 50% off selected party merchandise?

Heh. In this case it probably got him the planning permission to build a development outside Paisley (incidently, Ms. Alexanders constituency is Paisley..).

What it should get all of these sleazy scum is not an "apology, but denial of intentional wrongdoing", but jail time. In addition any of them that currently hold public office should be removed and new elections held.

Of course, that won't happen, because then Labour would lose a couple of critical seats in Parliament, and since the SNP are already a minority government, 4-5 new seats would tip the balance their way a bit more...

The scottish government invested heavily in a records and e-mail management system, so e-mails can be seen as records now.

Unless they are made up and are in a personal inbox from mr_informer@yahoo.com to walexander1234@hotmail.com

What do you think official e-mail or not....?