Ask Not For Whom the Bell Tolls, David Mundell…

Bad news for David Mundell. The Tories’ sole MP in Scotland (at the moment!) might think himself the obvious choice to be Scottish Secretary, should David Cameron form a government later this year but the party leader seems much less convinced of poor Mr Mundell’s merits, telling the Herald today:

“You will have to wait and see what appointments are made if we win an election but, suffice it to say, David has done an excellent job.”

So, Cameron’s looking for an alternative. And reasonably so. Mr Mundell is an inoffensive man and that’s not something you can say about all MPs, but few people, I think, truly think that he’s the man to represent a Conservative government in Scotland. And represent is an important word here, since the next Secretary of State will, in some respects, be something of an Ambassador to a semi-foreieng, semi-sovereign land. That means he needs to have some authority and for it to be clear that he has the Prime Minister’s ear.