“…Although a great deal of research (Arter, 2004;Bogdanor, 2001;Bort and Harvie, 2005;Jeffery and Mitchell, 2009;McCrone, 2005, McLean, 2001Mitchell, 2009;Paterson, 2000;Taylor, 1999;Trench, 2004;Trench, 2005) has been devoted to the functioning and achievements of the new Scottish Parliament, very few political comments have focused upon the executive power and the devolved ministers. More strikingly, the coverage and analysis of the position and achievements of the Scottish First Ministers since 1999 has been extremely limited.…”