in
Joe FitzPatrick
Minister for Parliamentary Business and Chief Whip
THE SNP's steady capture of Dundee at council, Holyrood and Westminster level was seen as the model for the Nationalist take-over of the whole country, so it is no surprise that one of the architects of that has been entrusted with the job of keeping MSPs on message.
Margaret Burgess
Minister for Housing and Welfare
ONE of the new intake, she captured a Labour stronghold in Cunninghame South. Ms Burgess is a former SNP group leader on the council there. She has a solid background in the Citizens' Advice movement and Alex Salmond has spoken of his desire to boost this portfolio.
Paul Wheelhouse
Minister for Environment and Climate Change
AFTER entering Holyrood last year on the South of Scotland list, he quietly made his way as an articulate and thoughtful member of the Finance Committee and the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee.
Humza Yousaf
Minister for External Affairs and International Development
POSTER boy for the new Scotland, and a former researcher for both the First Minister and his deputy, he was the youngest ever MSP when elected last year having just turned 25. Appointed to the Justice and Public Audit Committees at Holyrood.
OUT
Bruce Crawford
REGARDED as a star within both party and Government, with an unusual combination of steeliness and likeability, he was the chief whip who kept the minority administration afloat and was rewarded with a Cabinet position in charge of government strategy and a role in talks over the Scotland Act and referendum.
Stewart Stevenson
ABOUT to turn 66 next month, Mr Stevenson is making way for younger blood. After a successful career in banking IT he won Banff and Buchan when Salmond left Holyrood in 2001. He quit as Transport Minister in December 2011 after dealing with tough winter weather and returned to Environment and Climate Change last year.
Brian Adam
This was viewed at Holyrood as no surprise as the Parliamentary Business Manager and Chief Whip has been suffering increasingly poor health. A founding member of the parliament, he was deputy whip during the SNP's minority first term. He had been a biochemist with Glaxo and then in Aberdeen hospitals.
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