Fertile soil

Hacks awaiting the unveiling of the new Scottish Office ministerial team showed not the slightest interest in education minister Raymond Robertson, but were all agog at the sight of the hitherto unknown Earl of Lindsay, who turned out to be a Hugh Grant lookalike.

Lord Lindsay (who said he is generally addressed as "Jamie") is an Edinburgh University social sciences graduate although his subsequent profession was landscape architecture.

The hacks professed indignation at the absence of a representative from Gardening Today, and it was suggested that Lord Lindsay would be an asset to the Tories since he would know all about plots.