Orcadian Column, 4 September 2025
The Scottish Parliament is not as we left it back at the start of summer recess. As June faded into July, MSPs headed for the exits with a spring in our step while Orkney readied itself to host The Best International Island Games Ever ©.
Two months later and the mood is considerably more sombre as MSPs return to our offices at Holyrood this week. It feels as if a shadow is hanging over the place following news of the arrest last month of South of Scotland MSP, Colin Smyth on charges of possessing indecent images. Further reports have since emerged of a hidden camera being found by police in one of the toilets on the parliament campus, prompting a comprehensive sweep of the building and adding to the distress felt by MSPs, staff and other users of the building.
Colin Smyth continues to deny the charges against him and insists he is cooperating with the ongoing police investigation. The latter represent live criminal proceedings so public conjecture runs the risk of potentially breaching contempt of court rules.
Even so, some things are already crystal clear. Colin Smyth was suspended from the Scottish Labour Party a fortnight ago and had his parliamentary pass deactivated last week, preventing him entering the building. This week he confirmed he has stepped down as Convener and a member of the parliament’s Economy and Fair Work Committee, pre-empting a vote by the Committee’s members that would have had the same effect.
What happens going forward is impossible to predict, but my heart goes out to Colin Smyth’s wife and young family. They suddenly find themselves dragged into the eye of a media storm, confronted with all manner of lurid speculation on a daily basis. It is difficult to imagine just how horrendous that must be and how powerless it must make them feel. I hope very much that they are receiving the support they need and that the police and courts can complete their necessary work as quickly as possible.
Similarly, and as importantly, support must be in place and made available to the victims of these crimes, some of whom may still be unaware they are victims. That process has started but will need to continue, probably for some time to come.
The summer recess has also been eventful within the Scottish Tory Party, thankfully for less sinister reasons. Recent events do, though, add further credence to the view that Russell Findlay’s party is struggling to hold itself together ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections next May.
Following the defection of Jamie Greene to the Scottish Liberal Democrats back in March this year, there was much conjecture about who might follow, if not in jumping ship to my party then at the very least disembarking an increasingly unseaworthy-looking MV Findlay. Jeremy Balfour finally made his move a fortnight ago, resigning the whip and opting to sit as an Independent. Like Jamie before him, Jeremy Balfour, who is well-respected across the Chamber, cited the ‘kneejerk’ approach to policy-making being adopted by Russell Findlay and those around him in response to the electoral threat posed to the Scottish Tories by Reform.
Interestingly, that threat was made flesh a few days later when another Tory MSP, Graham Simpson announced he was defecting to become Reform’s first representative at Holyrood. Rumours surrounding Graham Simpson’s likely departure to Reform have been rife for a while, although his commendable efforts to position himself as a champion of cycling and active travel may not survive the transition to Nigel Farage’s climate sceptical ranks.
The parting gift from ‘sources’ in Graham Simpson’s former group was not thanks for four years of service, but rather denunciation of him as a ‘nasty man’ forced to apologise to a female member of staff for workplace bullying. Reports of recent goings-on in the Reform group at Westminster suggest such behaviour may be a natural fit.
Football’s summer transfer window may have closed on Monday night, but Mssrs Greene, Balfour and Simpson are unlikely to be the last Scottish Tory MSPs to push for a ‘move away’ ahead of next May’s election.