Alba civil war escalates into total carnage as McEleny's suspension is upgraded to an outright SACKING for gross misconduct, with strong hints he will also face EXPULSION from the party - this could mean his desperate attempts to stand for depute leader will count for nothing as his nominations are likely to be NULLIFIED

Scotland's most disgruntled employee is an employee no longer.  "Mad Dog" can now run free in the hills.  One chapter - but sadly only one chapter - in Alba's Reign of Terror is now over.  The statues are being toppled all across Scotland this afternoon.

I follow the Moskva

Down to Gorky Park

Listening to the wind of CHA-ANGE

An August summer night

Soldiers passing by

Listening to the wind of CHA-ANGE

Take me 

To the magic of the moment

On a glory night

Where the children of tomorrow dream away (dream away)

In the wind of CHANGE

Mmmmm

It sounds like the sacking actually occurred a while ago, but the reason the news has broken today is simply that today is the day Sky News ran a story about Alba.  They interviewed Kenny MacAskill, who revealed the sacking and also made clear that McEleny faces potential expulsion from the party.  And as we all know, Alba being Alba, potential expulsion means definite expulsion.  Unless he jumps before he's pushed, McEleny will soon find himself in exactly the same position he put me into on 5th December - sitting in front of the rubberstamp Disciplinary Committee with his fate already predetermined.  You know what they say, Chris - you live by the sword, you die by the sword.  

I will not be the only one of McEleny's many victims who burst out laughing upon reading his squeals of protest to Sky about his dismissal: "Alex Salmond used to always tell me that in a political party rational people need to bump along with each other.  Sadly we have not seen people bumping along with each other."  Anyone would be forgiven for thinking McEleny was not Alba's modern-day Robespierre and that he did not preside over countless malicious expulsions and de facto expulsions with considerable relish.

In case you're wondering whether MacAskill's announcement changes anything, given that McEleny was suspended as General Secretary anyway, it actually does.  If normal practice is followed, McEleny's expulsion will be preceded by a period of suspension from the party itself (he was previously only suspended from his paid employment, not from the party).  That will render him ineligible to stand for depute leader and his nominations will be nullified.  It was obvious something was in the air last night - senior leadership loyalists had seemingly been asked to pass on evidence of McEleny's desperate tactics to get the necessary number of last-gasp nominations (which were actually proving quite effective).  It seems a decision was taken that one or way or another, he simply wasn't going to be allowed to reach the ballot.

I'd suggest it's now almost inevitable that McEleny will lead a mini-exodus of his supporters from the Alba Party - but it will only be a mini-exodus, because as the nominations have proved, he doesn't actually have all that many keen supporters.  But what next?  Will he and his chums abandon independence and throw in their lot with Farage?  Will he set up his own party in the hope Ash Regan will join him in the (highly likely) event that her own leadership bid is unsuccessful?  One thing is for sure - he won't be leaving politics, because he's got his heart set on becoming an MSP.  Apparently he's convinced his family he'll be First Minister one day.  Ahem.