Independent Labour.

Looks like Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray MSP could be facing real problems on his own patch. Can so many ordinary party members be wrong with the choice of a candidate, if they are so upset that they are thinking of breaking party rules by fielding their own?

"LABOUR REBELS in Iain Gray's Scottish parliamentary constituency are threatening to field an independent candidate against the local MP at the next general election, in a move that would leave the Scottish leader's power base in chaos. Senior activists in East Lothian, including former councillors and office-holders, are actively discussing running an "Independent Labour" candidate against MP Anne Moffat if the party moves to expel her opponents."

Bully For Her?

Mr Smith has commented previously on the trials and tribulations surrounding Labour MP Anne Moffat. But it looks as though the previously reported machinations are being dwarfed by her pronouncements about Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray MSP in the wake of the suspension of the East Lothian Constituency Labour Party.

"THE CIVIL war inside Iain Gray's local party exploded last night when the area's MP accused the Scottish leader of "making friends" with "bullies" who were trying to throw her out of the seat. Anne Moffat, the East Lothian MP since 2001, aimed several digs at Gray for not backing her in a feud with local activists who had tried in vain to deselect her last year. Moffat said Gray was close to a group of people she described as "bullies", "cowards" and "nasty people".

Mr Smith is willing to bet there are members of Anne Moffat's local party who would use exactly the same words ... about her.

Mr Blue Peter.

Mr Smith reads courtesy of Drumlanrig that one of Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray's claims to fame is that he is the holder of a Blue Peter badge. Allegedly, the only MSP to do so.

Is there no limit to Iain's talents?

But what did he get it for?

Get A Life

Courtesy of Drumlanrig, "How do our highly-paid politicians spend their Saturday? Yesterday, Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray issued a press release calling Alex Salmond's team of economic wise men to meet in public. In it, he referred to how the meeting was being held in Dumfries – when in fact it was being held in Dumfries House, in Cumnock. Salmond's aides seized on the error, issuing their own counter press release, mocking Gray's "blunder", claiming he was just as "gaffe-prone" as Wendy Alexander. Meanwhile, in the real world, the global financial crisis thundered on."

Remarkable insight into the world inhabited by our politicians and their bag carriers. People are losing their jobs, the taxpayer is getting dug deeper and deeper into financial red holes and all our politicians can do is email press releases back and forward to each other. They really need to get a life.

He's A Fire Starter.

Is it just Mr Smith or were the comments last week by new Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray in his first First Minister's Questions in relation to the demise of HBOS rather intemperate?

Suggesting that speculators, whom Mr Gray thought brought down HBOS, deserved to be heading to "the fire" seemed more worthy of a middle eastern totalitarian regime rather than an allegedly enlightened western democracy.

Here's hoping Mr Gray learns how to tone it down a bit, or we might just find that we have ended up with a religious fundamentalist in sheep's clothing.

That Sinking Feeling.

From today's Edinburgh Evening News.

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.

Unlucky For Some.

"THE contenders for the Labour leadership in Scotland learned a key pointer to their fate yesterday when nominations closed, giving Iain Gray more support from MSPs than rivals. He received 13 nominations from MSPs, compared to 12 for Cathy Jamieson and 10 for Andy Kerr. Mr Gray also appeared to confirm his new position as bookmakers' favourite, providing most trade union support, with 15 bodies, as well as seven affiliates."

Here's hoping Mr Gray isn't superstitious, what with thirteen MSP nominations.

The Gray Man.

"THE frontrunner in the race to became Labour's new Holyrood leader has suffered a blow after a YouGov poll showed that three-quarters of Scots barely knew anything about him. Only 4% of respondents in a YouGov poll said they knew "a lot" about Iain Gray, the East Lothian MSP who has taken an early lead in the contest. The sample found that 8% were familiar with his leadership rival Andy Kerr, while 17% said they knew "a lot" about the third candidate, Cathy Jamieson. The snapshot, commissioned by the SNP this month, found that 76% knew "little about" Gray or had "not heard" of him at all."

But of course the research was commissioned by the SNP which seems to be quite keen on Iain Gray not being Leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Mr Smith wonders why? Could it be because he might just be Labour's best hope as Leader?

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.

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.

Double Dutch.

Mr Smith thinks that Scottish Labour needs someone as Leader who can rub more than a couple of brain cells together, but do they really need an Aeschylus?

"Scottish Labour leadership contender Iain Gray sets out his vision for a party coming to terms with defeat in Glasgow ... “A greek poet wrote "he who learns must suffer". Glasgow East was a terrible result for Scottish Labour and we have certainly suffered. Now we must use the forthcoming leadership debate to ensure that we learn …”

Mmmmm. It's all double dutch to Mr Smith, as it will be to the typical Labour voter, if there is any such thing after the Glasgow East by-election result. Get yourself a new speechwriter Iain before it is too late, or you could end up as a Geek.

Tis' the silly season.

It is well seen that it is the festive season with politicians of all parties unleashing on the great Scottish public all the ridiculous stories that they've been saving up all year safe in the knowledge that with so many journalists on holiday that there is a great chance that they will get some coverage that they otherwise wouldn't.

Two examples from today:

"THE Scotch pie is under threat because of a shortage of master bakers, it has been claimed. Bridies, butteries and plain loaves could also be threatened by a government block on food industry training grants. Labour finance spokesman Iain Gray said: "Traditional Scottish baking icons like the pan loaf, the plain loaf, the buttery, the bridie and Scotch pie could be threatened as the skills to bake them are not passed on."

"A call was made last night for Scottish banknotes to be legally protected in England. Alistair Carmichael, Scottish spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, revealed he had received a letter from Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, confirming that at present there was no requirement for shopkeepers and businesses to accept Scottish banknotes."

Do politicians think anyone except Mr Smith reads newspapers at this time of year, let alone cares about these stories? Journalists deserve holidays too.

Pitifully light.

Mr Smith read in the Daily Record that:

"The SNP's skills strategy was defeated last night as MSPs rejected it by 72 votes to 47. Education secretary Fiona Hyslop said the strategy to merge Careers Scotland and Learndirect Scotland in a new quango would streamline the delivery of training in Scotland. But opposition parties claimed the strategy lacked detail and rejected it. Labour enterprise spokesman Iain Gray said: "It was pitifully light and lacking any urgency." "

So another defeat for the SNP Government and the strategy very probably was not very good, but for a fleeting second Mr Smith thought that Iain Gray was actually making a comment about himself ...