Unfitting end for radical Tory MSP whose style will be sorely missed

THE life of Brian, Monteith of that ilk, has not been dull. It was always said of Kenneth Clarke, a Conservative of a lighter Tory hue, that he would cross the street to join a political scrap. Monteith, it can be fairly said, is the kind of politician who would sprint across a dual carriageway to join a plot.

However, it would be grossly unfair to write Mr Monteith's political obituary solely in terms of his unmasking for doing what many others in his party - including those at a more senior level - were also doing: communicating to journalists in unflatt...