Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The Conservative MSP Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, always known as Lord James, held a retirement 'do' last night in Edinburgh to mark his retirement from the Scottish Parliament at this May's elections. It seems a good time was had by all; Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP gave a speech, which was typically fluent and witty, to a gathering of the great and good.

Sir Malcolm, of course, was Secretary of State for Scotland when Lord James first arrived at the Scottish Office in 1987, going on to be the longest continually-serving minister in that fine department, clocking up ten years to 1997. But although he is standing down after eight years at Holyrood, Lord James still retains his life peerage which entitles him to sit in the House of Lords, where I'm sure he'll be a diligent atendee.