The National:

THE London media’s coverage of Scotland never fails to impress, does it?

If you think that Westminster journalists give Scotland a fair hearing, you might want to think again. Today, the afternoon edition of Westminster’s most popular political newsletter couldn’t get the absolute basics right.

Fact: You could make up a name like Tarquin Farrington and tell most people he was prime minister in 1795 or something and most people would probably believe you. There have been a lot of prime ministers and a lot of boring English history.

However, there hasn’t been many first ministers of Scotland. Only five, in fact.

READ MORE: I was in the Question Time audience in Glasgow - the atmosphere was poisonous

So it’s pretty concerning that such a major political media operation introduced a brand new one to the list.

In its usual wrap up of who’s on the media rounds, Politico’s London Playbook announced that Jeremy Kyle Live on TalkTV would feature a top guest: “Former Scottish First Minister Frances Leach”.

Now that made The Jouker do a double-take.

Could this be a misspelling? Somebody messed up and let their cat run over their keyboard as they typed out Henry McLeish?

The National:

Well, there is indeed a Frances Leach going on Jeremy Kyle tonight.

She is a Labour councillor in London, and a writer on human rights and politics, who also does media for Global Justice Now. We are sure she is a great gal.

However, quite how she got such a massive promotion is beyond us, and a little concerning for Scotland’s democratic set-up.

Leach, too, was surprised by the major new role. “Can't believe Politico has broken the news of my big promotion like this,” she tweeted.

Mistakes happen. But when your major political news outlet regularly relegates all news focused on Scotland to a section called “Beyond the M25”, is it all that surprising that such a humiliating error could occur?