THE full line-up for Alex Salmond’s upcoming Fringe show The Ayes Have It.
The event will see two teams debate the biggest issues of the day including independence, Brexit, the abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords.
The two team of debaters will back up Alex Salmond (below) and Tory MP David Davis.
The 10-day run is due to start on Friday August 4 with the cast list changing every evening.
It has since been confirmed however that he will appear via video as his character from Succession – Logan Roy.
The full speaker list is as follows:
- Right Honourable Alex Salmond, Former first minister
- Right Honourable David Davis MP, former secretary of state
- Right Honourable John Bercow, former speaker House of Commons
- Lord Tom Strathclyde, former leader of the House of Lords
- Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh OBE, former MP
- Right Honourable Henry McLeish, former first minister
- Dame Eleanor Laing MP, Deputy Speaker House of Commons
- Baroness Claire Fox, House of Lords
- Joanna Cherry KC MP
- Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary
- Mike Graham, broadcaster
- Iain Dale, broadcaster
- Alex Neil, former Cabinet secretary
- Margaret Mitchell, former MSP
- Joan McAlpine, former MSP
- Richard Tice, leader Reform UK Party
- Fergus Ewing MSP, former Cabinet secretary
- Eilidh Whiteford, former MP
- Paul Sinclair, former adviser to ex-PM Gordon Brown
- Right Honourable Sir Vince Cable, former Lib Dem leader
- Kenny McAskill MP, former Cabinet secretary
- Bernard Ponsonby, STV political editor
- Kate Forbes MSP, former Cabinet secretary
- Michelle Thomson MSP
- Neale Hanvey MP
- Pupils from Boroughmuir High School
- Pupils from Craigmount High School
Leading one team for the Ayes, Alba leader Salmond said: “The crowd in the Spiegeltent will be raucous but good natured.
“These will be lively debates on important issues with no quarter asked or given, but they will also be great fun and great entertainment.”
Leading the team for the Noes, Davis said: “Alex thinks that home advantage will see his side through.
“But I’ve assembled a crack team of debaters to upset his applecart. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can be taken for granted when the show gets under way.
“It might be the Ayes who have it but then again it might not.”
The show’s producer Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh commented: “We are out to demonstrate in the Spiegeltent that political debate can be fun as well as informative.
“This sparkling line up will ensure that. However, the big guns had better watch out. Right through the festival run each team will be joined by start debaters from local schools, Boroughmuir and Craigmount High.
“The pupils may end up stealing the show.”
