Deputy First Minister gets little recognition

ONLY one in ten Scots recognises the face of Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen, according to a new poll.

Mr Stephen was last week handed the task of running the country while First Minister Jack McConnell is on holiday.

But the leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland left nine out of ten people scratching their heads when they were asked to identify him from a photograph.

The finding is sure to alarm Mr Stephen who says his party can become the largest in Holyrood after the next Scottish elections.

The survey found that only 29 out of the 250 people asked - 11 per cent - could correctly identify a picture of Mr Stephen.

Some believed he was US president George W Bush while other guesses ranged from the evangelist Billy Graham to the late entertainer Roy Castle.

In Edinburgh, only two out of the 50 people asked recognised the Lib Dem leader.

Mr McConnell left for a holiday on the island of Arran last weekend and will not return for at least another week.