LINDSAY Roy, the new MP for Glenrothes, was introduced to the House a short time ago, immediately following Prime Minister’s Questions.

Hard to say if he felt intimidated or not -the House isn’t usually that busy when new members are introduced. But he got an enthusiastic welcome from our lot, less so from the SNP for some reason.

In the run-up to polling last week I was contacted by a couple of journalists asking for a steer as to what result to expect. I told them what I thought: the SNP would take the seat, though not with the kind of majority they might have expected at the start of the campaign. In fact I was deliberately ignoring the positive response I had found on the doorstep; my pessimism was rooted entirely on the fact that we had lost Glasgow East even when we controlled the council and had retained the Scottish Parliament seat at the 2007 elections. In Glenrothes we had lost both to the nationalists.

So on polling night I deliberately avoided the results programme and went to bed early, unwilling to look at TV images of the smug faces of the nationalists at the count. It was Carolyn, next morning, who told me the result. I was stunned. Stunned and very, very happy.

So to any journalist who feels a bit peeved at my giving him misleading information, I apologise. It wasn’t spin – it was honest, common or garden west of Scotland pessimism.