First Minister's Questions: Jeering or leering?

Laughs were raised when Tory MSP Alex Johnstone (third to the right on the middle row) was accused by the FM of leering

Politicians have to get used to a wide range of responses to their rhetorical pronouncements. From avid enthusiasm to flat indifference.

At Holyrood Nicola Sturgeon faced a rather different challenge. According to the FM, a Conservative MP, Alex Johnstone, was leering at her.

Her remark was delivered even as Murdo Fraser, also of the Tory persuasion, was attempting to woo Ms Sturgeon on to Conservative tax-cutting ground.

Such a pitch, she said with minimal conviction, would have more chance if Mr Fraser could persuade his colleague to desist. Ms Sturgeon accompanied this with an equally unconvincing attempt at looking flustered.

As Mr Johnstone looked puzzled - I expect he had been stifling a yawn - the Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick rode to his rescue. Johnstone, A, was not given to leering, she proclaimed with all the majesty of the chair.

Birthday time

(Incidentally, I am told this is Ms Marwick's birthday. How do I know? Remember, remember….. Altogether now, "Happy birthday to you, happy…." )

Anyway, other than this curious exchange, it was a day for Nicola Sturgeon to display her dominant side. But it should be noted that there was no partisan element to her approach. She gave them all laldy.

Labour, as was to be expected, piled in on the issue of tax credits. The Labour offer in Scotland is to maintain the level of expenditure on tax credits - rising to £440m - even if wages rise under the Chancellor's plan to oblige employers to pay more.

For the avoidance of doubt, Labour's Kezia Dugdale insisted her party would seek to forestall tax credit cuts.

But, failing that, it would ultimately be about making choices. Choosing to make the low-paid in Scotland better off still - instead of cutting Air Passenger Duty as the Scottish government intends or raising the level at which upper rate income tax kicks in, as the UK government plans.

She challenged the SNP to do likewise and get on with the job of helping struggling families in Scotland.

Frankly, the issue - and Labour's associated challenge - has caused a degree of evident discomfiture in Scottish Government ranks over the last day or so. That is partly because, in government, you have to consider the precise, immediate impact of your pronouncements. Details matter, as Ms Sturgeon noted.

I'm told, incidentally, that one issue being canvassed inside the Scottish government is how best to deliver altered welfare provision in Scotland....

• A Scottish benefits agency?

• Local authorities?

• The existing DWP and HMRC networks - which could involve charges, perhaps unpredictable ones?

It was suggested to me that civil servants might tend, perhaps understandably, to favour the familiar DWP/HMRC approach. Ministers want consideration of all three options - and may end up with a mixture. It is just part of the detailed discussions which mean this issue is decidedly fluid.

But there was zero sign of that today from Ms Sturgeon. She offered solid certainty, opening acidly by recalling that Labour had mostly abstained in an earlier Commons vote on welfare curbs.

Ms Sturgeon said Labour was not so much Keir Hardie as Laurel and Hardy

The pH level dropped still further as Ms Sturgeon went on to suggest that Labour's approach amounted to easing up on the Tories - just as the Chancellor was under pressure - and attacking the SNP instead. She said later Labour were driven by "tribal hatred" of the SNP, not concern for hard-up Scots.

Warming to her theme, as the chamber temperature palpably dropped, the FM said Ms Dugdale had promised in an interview with Holyrood magazine to spend the APD cash on education. That had been a day before Ms Dugdale's speech to her party's conference, promising to spend the money on tax credits instead.

It was, said the FM, "incompetence". Not so much Keir Hardie as Laurel and Hardy. So another fine mess then - but whose?

Ms Dugdale retorted that the SG had adopted three different positions on tax credits in 24 hours.

Labour said later that the magazine interview had been conducted ten days earlier - and had been overtaken by an HMRC assurance that they would thwart top Scottish earners from dodging higher tax rates, meaning that money could go on education and the APD cash could go on tax credits.

Ms Sturgeon said her government would await the final detail from the Chancellor and respond accordingly - with a detailed plan. For now, the focus was on tackling the tax credits policy itself.

More to come on this. Much more.

I was intrigued by a later comment from Ms Sturgeon. Questioned by Kevin Stewart about the Scotland Bill, she acknowledged that there had been advantageous amendments, including on welfare, while insisting that the package still fell short of that offered before the referendum.

But it was her additional remark which drew my attention. The priority now, she suggested, was the accompanying fiscal framework. (See comments on this site, passim.)

To me, that indicated that conflict over the Bill itself is drawing to a close. I am not - repeat not - saying that the battle is over in the Commons. Just that the close of hostilities in that particular zone is discernible.

In any event, Ms Sturgeon maintained her tough stance during questions. She was relatively emollient in answering Ruth Davidson on the subject of school attainment.

Bold Bella

Perhaps that is because the FM is feeling her way on this tricky topic. Perhaps it was Ms Davidson's new status as "Insurgent of the Year" in the Spectator awards. (A Conservative insurgent? Now there's a thing. Ms Davidson said she hopes to sustain the insurgency through to next May's elections.)

But she was notably sharper with Willie Rennie who challenged her over primary school testing. He listed a range of education notables and queried whether the FM believed they were all wrong. No, she replied, just Mr Rennie.

And the bilious tone thickened still further when Annabel Goldie invited the FM to "stop caterwauling" and explain how she would use the extensive new tax and welfare powers coming to Scotland.

This produced a rare moment in the chamber. Genuine indignation as opposed to the customary bogus brand. Ms Sturgeon noted that the bold Bella had an alter ego - as a member of the Upper House at Westminster.

In which guise she had voted for cuts in tax credits, as George Osborne's plans faced a Lordly revolt. It would be a long time before she would take lectures on welfare from Baroness Goldie.

The title itself was spat out, rather as an evangelical preacher would denounce a particularly wilful member of his flock who had strayed once too often.

Not leering but jeering.