Salmond and Saeed: Have Indeed Been Pictured Together

Not sure I got a hat tip over there for pointing out the apparent scarcity of pictures of Osama Saeed PPC with Alex Salmond MSP MP but well done to Tom Harris MP and his readers for flushing a couple out, the best being this one, as celebrated here. There are also some rather less informal ones at the launch of Mr Saeed's SIF - Salmond-funded ginger group for the Caliphate. Which, to be fair, had Labour, Tory and Roman Catholic figures as well as Salmond at its launch.

ABOVE is an aproximately one-year-old You Tube upload of a "chance" meeting between Salmond and Saeed where they shoot the considerable breeze about this and that. I think that Saeed in particular makes some good points between scoring some rather ridiculous cheap points. Osama Saeed used to work for Alex Salmond, is the SNP PPC for Westminster for Glasgow Central, and has received a very substantial grant for his organisation from Salmond.

Osama Saeed appears to be an effective communicator and a potentially useful parliamentarian, hopefully with some development in his positions on certain policy matters. There is certainly quite a challenge for Scottish Labour to win back support that has drifted across to the Nats over the wars of our time. But let's just try imagining that this was the Labour Party giving such grants to candidates' organisations and not the SNP.