Contest? What Contest?

'McConnell is certain to face considerable pressure to stand aside in the interests of avoiding a damaging contest at a time when the party faces difficult by-elections in Falkirk West and Glasgow Anniesland, as well as the untested leadership of the SNP's John Swinney. The 48 hours of open campaigning will also make it very difficult for him to garner the votes of his colleagues or spell out an alternative agenda to McLeish's safe-hands image.' Torcuil Crichton in the Sunday Herald, 15 th October 2000.

Labour moves swiftly to elect Dewar successor

By Torcuil Crichton in Sunday Herald, 15 th October 2000

Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown will lead the orations to Dewar at a service in Glasgow Cathedral on Wednesday afternoon which is expected to be attended by 1500 people.

One member of the Royal family, possibly Prince Charles or Princess Anne, is expected to attend along with party leaders, ambassadors, constituents and friends. The event, which will be broadcast live by the BBC, will not be a state funeral but is likely to be the largest show of public mourning in Scotland since the burial of John Smith.

Three days later, Labour's 54 MSPs and the 29 members of the Scottish party's ruling council (also called the party's Scottish Executive) will convene in Stirling to elect an interim leader. The hastily arranged meeting will enable the Labour Party to put forward a replacement candidate for the First Minister's post in the parliament within the 28-day deadline demanded by the Scotland Act. The plan, arranged by Scottish Labour's general secretary, Lesley Quinn, and senior Labour figures, bypasses the party's complex electoral college of politicians, trade unions and ordinary members which can not be organised within the time frame demanded by the Scotland Act.

Officials have emphasised that the appointment of an interim Labour leader will avoid the situation of Jim Wallace, the LibDem Acting First Minister in the coalition government, taking the post. The reality is that the contest has been arranged to kill speculation that Labour's enterprise minister, Henry McLeish, will be anointed as leader in a party fix.

"If we don't spell out what we are doing and have an election, these accusations of a fix will stick," said a Labour official. If they persuade only one person to stand then that's still democracy."

In recent days McLeish, who will be the favourite to win a contest, has been touted in the press as the choice of the party establishment, with Chancellor Gordon Brown and Prime Minister Tony Blair creating the impression that the choice of leader is a bygone conclusion and that the democratic processes of the party would be used to rubber-stamp the hierarchy's choice.

A run-in between McLeish and Jack McConnell, finance minister, is now expected, although neither will make a declaration ahead of Wednesday's funeral.

McConnell, who was in danger of being steamrollered by the media campaign to secure the leadership for McLeish, now has to decide if he can swing enough votes to launch a realistic leadership bid.

A full electoral college process will take place at a later date for a leader and a deputy but, with a UK general election looming, whoever is elected on Saturday is likely to remain as Labour leader and First Minister and take the party into the Scottish elections in 2003.

McConnell is certain to face considerable pressure to stand aside in the interests of avoiding a damaging contest at a time when the party faces difficult by-elections in Falkirk West and Glasgow Anniesland, as well as the untested leadership of the SNP's John Swinney.

The 48 hours of open campaigning will also make it very difficult for him to garner the votes of his colleagues or spell out an alternative agenda to McLeish's safe-hands image.