Lord Forsyth portrait

There was a very amusing reception at Dover House last night for the unveiling of Lord Forsyth's official Scotland Office portrait. The event was hosted by Douglas Alexander, the current Scottish Secretary, and the unveiling itself was introduced by Raymond Robertson, one of Forsyth's under-secretaries during his time as Secretary of State. It fell to Baroness Thatcher to actually unveil the painting by Anne Mackintosh, who also did the portrait of Donald Dewar which is in the Scottish Parliament.

As Alexander joked, there can't have been that many Conservatives in the Scottish Office since 1997. Former ministers included Lord Sanderson, Allan Stewart, George Kynoch, Jamie Lindsay, Lord Strathclyde and Donald Mackay (Lord Advocate from 1995-97). Bernard Jenkin, Forsyth's PPS as Scottish Secretary, was also there.