Isn't it the case, ... that there were deep divisions inside the executive over the issue and rather than tell the prime minister that, the first minister chose to abdicate responsibility and stay completely silent.

This is not so. In any case, the issue is not the executive chairman. It is how to get on with the work of disarming Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.

Let us put the normal divisions of politics aside. Let us come together as one country; let us seize this historic moment to shift the balance of power from the corridors of Westminster to the streets and communities of Scotland.

At these big set-piece events like the leaders' debates, that exterior of calm and serenity is nothing compared to what's going on inside most of the time.

Too often in the past, Scotland has been sidelined and ignored in the Westminster corridors of power, but that doesn't have to be the case anymore.

I think the first decision I took when I became a government minister was to reverse the planned closure of Monklands Accident and Emergency. It's an issue close to my heart.