Iain's The Man.

Mr Smith is not sure whether to congratulate Labour's new Leader at Holyrood Iain Gray. The position is a bit of a poison chalice as attested to by the fact Mr Gray is Labour's fifth Leader in Scotland since devolution, but what did surprise Mr Smith is that Cathy Jamieson MSP came second to Mr Gray who eventually won with 57% of the vote having knocked out Andy Kerr MSP on the first ballot.

"JUST MINUTES after being elected as Scottish Labour leader, Iain Gray set himself on a potential collision course with London. As he declared victory, the former Scottish enterprise minister said that the nature of his win effectively made him leader of Labour in Scotland, not just of the MSPs in Holyrood. His comments immediately brought a rebuke from Des Browne, secretary of state for Scotland, who said he expected Gray to "respect the structure of this party".

Mr Smith sees it didn't take him long to upset his Westminster Labour colleagues. Start as you mean to go on says Mr Smith.

Big Mouth.

"A CONFIDANTE of the late Donald Dewar has said Labour leadership hopeful Andy Kerr is unlikely to win the contest because of past disloyalty to colleagues. Sam Galbraith, the former education minister, said there was a "black spot" over Kerr because he used to act as a "mouthpiece" for former first minister Jack McConnell. He also said the shift to the left by Cathy Jamieson, another leadership contender, would result in her not being trusted by the party."

Mr Smith thinks all of these comments are a fair assessment. Mr Galbraith should return to front line Scottish politics. His honesty is refreshing.

First Preferences.

It would appear that Scottish Labour Leadership contender Iain Gray MSP has realised that just about the only thing that can stop him from becoming Labour Leader in Scotland is being publicly endorsed by PM Gordon Brown.

"Iain Gray, the frontrunner for the Scottish Labour leadership, has refused to be publicly endorsed by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling amid fears that association with their failing government will damage his chances. Allies of the prime minister and the chancellor have been working behind the scenes to gather support for Gray. In a series of telephone calls to MPs, MSPs and trade union leaders, they have dismissed rivals Cathy Jamieson, the former justice minister, as being “too left wing” and Andy Kerr, the former health minister, as “too nationalistic”.

Mr Smith agrees. Stay as far away from Gordon as you possible can Iain, but it interesting to read how Brown-ites see the other leadership contenders.

Inhale?

Mr Smith was interested to read a brief profile of the three candidates for the Scottish Labour Leadership in the Sunday press and their different responses to the quesion of whether they had smoked canabis?

Cathy Jamieson MSP, a former Justice Minister declared: "Like many of my generation, I have tried it, but as an otherwise non-smoker I did not find it a pleasant experience."

Andy Kerr MSP and architect of Scotland's smoking ban declined to answer the question.

With Iain Gray MSP commenting that "Come on, I was student in the '70s."

Commendable honesty ... except from Mr Kerr. And Ms Jamieson gets nearest to the "smoked it, but never inhaled" line from former US President Bill Clinton uttered during his first Presidential election campaign.

2-1 On.

Mr Smith thinks it won't be that straightforward, it shouldn't be given Andy's record, but when did you last meet a losing bookie?

"FORMER health minister Andy Kerr is the bookies' favourite to win the battle for the Scottish Labour leadership. Ladbrokes have made him 2-1-on favourite, with former enterprise minister Iain Gray at 3-1 and acting leader Cathy Jamieson at 4-1. So far, Kerr has the declared backing of 10 MSPs, Jamieson 12 and Gray 13."

And Then There Were Three.

"Three candidates will battle to become the next Scottish Labour leader, it has been confirmed. The contest will be between former health minister Andy Kerr, former deputy leader Cathy Jamieson and finance spokesman Iain Gray."

Looking at the nominations on the Scottish Labour Party's website all of the candidates felt the need to ... nominate themselves ... which seems a bit strange to Mr Smith. But given the balance in the number of supporters for each of the candidates' nominations there doesn't appear to be a clear frontrunner. This could run and run until mid-September.

The race for the Deputy Leadership looks more predictable with Johann Lamont MSP having more support from MSPs than Bill Butler who looks certain to be the also ran in the contest. Significantly one Mr Butler's supported his wife Patricia Ferguson MSP.

Kerr-y On.

Drumlanrig says, "Does opposition mean Labour MSPs and former ministers have forgotten how to write? A statement issued by Labour's Andy Kerr lampooned Nationalist ministers as being reminiscent of a Carry On film, below. He thundered: "The fact that six minister's have been criticised in the last few days must be some kind of record." As any grammar teacher would tell him, the word should be "ministers" – no apostrophe."

At least he isn't Shadow Educashun Minister.

A Muddle Not A Fiddle.

"A senior Labour MSP has been given a slap on the wrist after failing to declare hospitality he received from the fast food chain McDonald's. Andy Kerr missed the deadline for placing details of a community football event, sponsored by the company in his register of interests. But Holyrood's Standards Committee agreed the error was an oversight and not intended."

He attended the event last August a few months after he relinquished the role of Health Minister in the Scottish Executive. Would he have attended a McDonald's event in that capacity? And what possible additional knowledge and insight did he gain as an MSP from attending a football event with McDonald's in London? Other than it being a jolly of course ...

Is ignorance of the rules ever an excuse? If it is perhaps our politicians should give others the latitude they seem to want for themselves.

The Gambler.

"ALEX Salmond was yesterday dubbed a "Mississippi gambler" over his role in Donald Trump's bid to build a £1billion golf resort. Labour MSP Andy Kerr claimed the First Minister undermined the planning system by meeting Trump's representatives then phoning the government's chief planner to fix a secret get-together."

In Mr Smith's experience the greater the hyperbole and more striking the imagery ... the weaker the case. Think you lost that argument Andy.

The Bodyguards.

From the Herald Diary, "We hear that Defence Minister, and Celtic fan Des Browne escaped briefly from the Scottish Labour Party conference at Aviemore at the weekend with the mission to discover somewhere showing the Old Firm match. Accompanied by MSP Andy Kerr (Rangers) and Glasgow City Council leader Stephen Purcell (Celtic) and seven, yes seven, protection officers, he was taken to the bar of a golf club a few miles away where the game was indeed being shown. Strangely, as the protection officers with their earpieces and official demeanour spread out around the room, two of the chaps already in the bar looked at each other and rapidly exited the room, never to be seen again."

Not so Happy Meal.

So, it appears that former Labour Minister Andy Kerr MSP has become the latest Scottish politician to be implicated in allegations of breaking political rules as regards not declaration of the receipt of hospitality.

"LABOUR WAS involved in a second investigation last night after it emerged former health minister Andy Kerr had also been reported to the Crown Office - over an allegation that he failed to declare a £1000 gift. Holyrood Standards Commissioner Dr Jim Dyer - who has already reported Wendy Alexander to the Crown Office - has also declared Kerr may have broken the law. Now police are to question the former health minister about hospitality he received from fast food giant McDonald's and which he did not include on the official Register of Interests in breach of the MSPs' Code of Conduct … He has already admitted failing to record the gifts and hospitality in the allotted time. MSPs have 30 days to register hospitality and while the other MSPS did so, Kerr only recorded it four days after the deadline."

And all for the sake of declaring a "gift" four days late. But then again what is the point of having rules and then not enforcing them? The article goes on to highlight that Mr Kerr is not the only Labour MSP to have succumbed to the curse of McDonald's hospitaly. Labour MSP Ken McIntosh was also pulled up over breaking the rules in not declaring properly McDonald's hospitality three years ago.

Abrasive Wendy.

Mr Smith asks who would want to work for Scottish Labour Leader Wendy Alexander MSP.

"SCOTTISH LABOUR'S new spin-doctor made a series of damning criticisms of his colleagues weeks before he accepted the job as the party's head of communications. Gavin Yates used his blog to describe Wendy Alexander as "abrasive", labelled shadow health minister Andy Kerr as "simply uninspiring", and blasted Jack McConnell for being a "lame duck leader" when in office. He also said the fledgling SNP government had a "long and impressive" list of achievements, while describing first minister Alex Salmond as "a great example of a politician on top of his game".

Wendy really ought to give up employing people who have such mixed views about the Labour Party as well as nationalistic inclinations. Will Wendy need to find someone else to fill the role of her spin doctor? Mr Smith suspects not ... after all she is running out of candidates. Scotland only has a population of five million after all.

Dodgy dossiers.

Marathon man Andy Kerr MSP of the Scottish Labour Party has published a report criticising the SNP for failing to “implement fewer than half of the policies it said it would introduce in its first 100 days in power.”

Now Mr Smith says this may indeed be the case, but he is not sure that the average punter will really care that much, and that even if they do they will recognise that given Scotland’s “new politics,” it is difficult for any party to deliver on all of its promises when it doesn’t have a majority in the Scottish Parliament which itself has been in recess since 30th June.

Perhaps people are enjoying the Executive “doing less better,” which after all was what former Labour Leader Jack McConnell (remember him?) promised to do when he became First Minister in 2001.