From bad to worse

Congratulations to the Sunday Times, which appears to have unearthed one of the the most important facts about the Monteith imbroglio. It appears that, despite being thrown out of the Conservative Party, he can remain an MSP until the next general election.

"But even if Monteith, one of the Tories’ sharpest thinkers, is thrown out of the party for committing to e-mail what his colleagues said to journalists, nothing can be done to eject him from the parliament. He will keep his seat and continue to receive his £51,708-a-year salary until the next Holyrood elections in 2007.
As a “list” MSP Monteith was not directly elected by anybody, but was returned to Holyrood under the proportional representation voting system. He took his seat because a sufficient number of Scots in the Mid-Scotland and Fife region cast their second vote for the Tories.
Though he owes his seat to the party, the rules state that he cannot be removed before the next election now that he is outwith its parliamentary group. This bizarre state of affairs has prompted calls from senior politicians for a change in the list system."

Worth noting that neither Scotland on Sunday nor the Sunday Herald had done sufficient homework to point out this fact.

This of course assumes that the Sunday Times has got its facts straight (don't put a bet on it), but at least it has the courage of its convictions.