 | 'The recent Glasgow East campaign, which was run by Frank Roy and David Carins, the Scotland Office minister who resigned this week over the debate surrounding Mr Brown's leadership, resulted in the party's worst result for many years. The SNP overturned a Labour majority of 13,500 to win the seat.' Lorraine Davidson in the Times, 18 th September 2008. |  |
A key figure in Labour's catastrophic Glasgow East by-election campaign has been dropped from the team fighting to hold on to the Glenrothes seat which neighbours Gordon Brown's constituency, The Times has learnt.
Frank Roy has been told that he will not play a part in the crucial by-election which would be used by Mr Brown's critics to further undermine him, in the event that the seat falls to the SNP.
Mr Roy, who is close to the former Blairite Cabinet minister John Reid, will be replaced by the Edinburgh South MP Nigel Griffiths, a long-time ally of Mr Brown.
It's believed that Mr Roy had already been to the Glenrothes constituency to help with plans for the campaign before being told that his services would not be required.
He had been drafted into several recent by-election campaigns in Scotland because he is widely credited with possessing good organisational skills.
However, The Times understands that the Labour candidate in the forthcoming Glenrothes election did not agree with Mr Roy being given a key role in the campaign.
Labour candidate Lindsay Roy, the head teacher of Gordon Brown's former school, Kirkcaldy High, is understood to have objected to the idea of a West of Scotland MP masterminding an East coast by-election. He will be defending a Labour majority of 10,664 in the seat left vacant after the death of John MacDougall, the sitting MP.
The recent Glasgow East campaign, which was run by Frank Roy and David Carins, the Scotland Office minister who resigned this week over the debate surrounding Mr Brown's leadership, resulted in the party's worst result for many years. The SNP overturned a Labour majority of 13,500 to win the seat.
Labour also lost the most recent by-election to be held in Gordon Brown's Fife heartland. The Liberal Democrats overturned a 11,562 Labour majority to win the Dunfermline and West Fife constituency in 2006.
As The Times reported this week, the Prime Minister is believed to favour holding the Glenrothes by-election on November 6. Despite calls for him to attend in person, it remains unclear if the Mr Brown will break with convention to play a direct role in the campaign.
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