If I recall correctly, Alex Salmond claimed last May that he was slimming down government, with the creation of Cabinet Secretaries and a slimmed down Cabinet. But, in fact, the SNP government just gets bigger and bigger... It appears virtually all their MSPs are now part of the government.Commenting on the revelation that Alex Salmond has dramatically increased the size of government with the appointment of 14 Nationalist MSPs as "Parliamentary Liaison Officers", Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Chair, Iain Smith MSP, said, ""There are now only 8 Nationalist MSPs who have not been appointed as ministers or committee conveners by Alex Salmond. What have the likes of Sandra White and Bashir Ahmad done to find themselves so far outside Mr Salmond’s big tent?
"This is an astonishing u-turn by an administration now well practised in embarrassing u-turns. What does it say about the state of the SNP Parliamentary Party if it takes 39 MSPs to keep just 8 MSPs in line?
"So much for Alex Salmond’s hollow words, before the election about slimming down the size of the Scottish administration, government in Scotland has now swollen to levels unseen since the establishment of the Parliament."