In his first major interview since becoming Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore candidly admits that he had hoped to be given a Cabinet post immediately after the coalition was formed, writes reporter George Thomson.

 “It would be dishonest of me to suggest that I hadn’t hoped I would get a position but I looked at the people who had been put in there and I didn’t need to ask what the thinking had been that had led to the appointments and I just said at the end of the day, a few months before I had been fighting one of the tightest election battles in the country, so I was told, and in the end I got a decent majority so on one level, I was pleased to have retained the job and role I had had for the last 13 years but on another, would I have then also wanted a ministerial role? Of course, and it would be a complete lie to suggest anything else.”

However, Moore replaced Danny Alexander in the role of Secretary of State after Alexander was promoted to Chief Secretary of the Treasury following fellow Liberal Democrat David Laws’ shock resignation.

Moore said the speed and circumstances of Laws’ resignation “completely took me aback”, and spoke of his regret that the post only became available as a result of his friend’s misfortune. He said it was a bittersweet moment and that Laws was not only a close friend and colleague but also a ‘real talent’.

He identified his three priorities as the economy, Calman and the respect agenda, and warned other parties they would not be taken seriously until they offered constructive proposals on tackling the deficit.

“The First Minister has, in appropriately robust terms, set out his view of how Scotland could get out of this economic crisis but I do not share his analysis because when we look at some of the countries that used to be top of the SNP pops, they have had some really difficult problems.

“For all an independent Scotland might have done some of these things differently we have got ourselves into a real mess and the fact that two of our dominating financial institutions have had to be bailed out means we have to do some pretty radical stuff and through Calman we will address some of the issues and again, the First Minister argues for independence and in the interim, greater fiscal responsibility. I just don’t find it persuasive but what I do know, unlike some in the SNP, is that we have to tackle the deficit and I hear precious little from them or indeed the Labour Party on how they would do it and they can shout and throw stones as long and as loud as they like but I don’t think they will be taken credibly until they spell out how they would do it themselves.”

Read the full interview in Holyrood magazine, out today.