 | 'OK. First things first. I was wrong. I predicted that Labour would hang on to Glasgow East.
But the political earthquake forecast by SNP First Minister Alex Salmond arrived on time - if after a pointless recount. Well done to them, and to new MP John Mason. Gordon Brown is in terrible trouble.' Ross Lydall in the Scotsman, 25 th July 2008. |  |
OK. First things first. I was wrong. I predicted that Labour would hang on to Glasgow East.
But the political earthquake forecast by SNP First Minister Alex Salmond arrived on time - if after a pointless recount. Well done to them, and to new MP John Mason. Gordon Brown is in terrible trouble.
The task of defending the Prime Minister and explaining away the defeat went this morning to Des Browne, the Scottish Secretary. He and David Cairns, the Scotland Office minister, have just held a press conference at John Smith House, the party HQ in Glagsow. I'm off to Mr Salmond's victory walkabout at the Fort shopping centre in Parkhead in a minute.
The Labour press conference was not quite as solemn or introspective as I expected, Mr Browne's steady delivery perhaps acting like a soothing balm on a media pack weary after only several hours' sleep.
He warned against Labour deposing its leader, said the party had run an "excellent campaign" and claimed that Margaret Curran was the "outstanding candidate" of the contest and would have made an excellent MP. He suggested that - should she wish - she may yet have her chance to represent Glasgow East in Westminster.
Mr Browne began with the following: "Last night was a bad night for us. The people of Glasgow East sent us a clear message. We will examine what that message means and we will respond to it."
Asked whether it was time for the Prime Minister to go - or for others to give him a shove, the Scottish Secretary said: "No. He is a man who has a formidable combination of strengths. The party knows and understands that. Apart from anything else, our party learned from bitter experience how much we turn the electorate off if we turn inward on ourselves."
He added: "We have to look at the challenges we face and say: Are we better placed to deal with those challenges without the leadership of the most competent economic politican in more than a generation that this country has produced?"
He continued to praise Mr Brown's economic might and said that the state of the world economy had fuelled Labour's defeat.
"At the heart of this there is a difficult message for us, but we have will continue to hear it."
Little terribly memorable, as you see. It will all be superceded in the day when Mr Brown himself refuses to bow to the result, and Labour backbenchers start popping up on Sky news predicting doom and gloom if he remains. As expected, the SNP aren't really the story - but deserved congratulations to them nonetheless.
Ross Lydall is The Scotsman's political editor.
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