Strategy in Scotland

Strategy In Scotland, based in Great King Street, may not be next door to Bute House in Charlotte Square like GPC, yet its influence is just as noticeable. And like its rival firm it also employs staff with distinct political affiliations. Despite, or maybe because, he's a Manxman, Illiam Costain McCade, 32, is an ardent SNP supporter. "This idea about lobbyists - I didn't realise I was one of them until recently as I call myself a research executive - taking politicians out and wining and dining them and passing cash under the table is not true."

He insists: "It might happen in Westminster but not here. I've hardly been out at all with work and I'm only now getting into the cafe and restaurant culture that exists in Edinburgh. It's not like this on the Isle of Man." He freely admits his membership of the SNP, taken out when he was a PhD student and part-time lecturer at St Andrew's University. "It's like any job where you need to have contacts, but I don't know everyone in the SNP and have no direct line to Alex Salmond. I'm a supporter of independence, be it for the Isle of Man or Scotland."