And they’re off?

The hare has begun running in the Scottish Labour leadership race. Who set it running? Jack McConnell himself. The recess rumour mill has been relatively quiet as folk waited with anticipation to see if McConnell would jump or would require pushing.

There was some tearoom talk last week that McConnell would announce his intention to quit at the weekend. This began to shift over the weekend and by the time the Sunday papers came it seemed he was just thinking about it but ‘sources close to’ said he’d accepted the jig was up.

On August 20th there is to be a Holyrood Labour parliamentary party away day. It is expected by many that this is when McConnell will fall on his sword and leave the post with the support of his colleagues still wringing in his ears…unless there is a stalking horse candidate before that. Today’s Herald reports that Charlie Gordon may be that stalking horse – as I posted back in May.

Should McConnell hold on until August 20th then he would probably still be leader of the Labour group for the start of the next parliamentary session which would give him the chance to make a valedictory speech in that position rather than let his doing by First Minister Salmond in the last FMQs be his last word in the post. If there is a stalking horse in the next week there is an outside chance that they could have a new leader in place for the start of the session to give them the chance to ‘hit the ground running’.

Regardless of how McConnell steps aside there still remains the manner in which they will select the new leader to be addressed. The last two changes of leader of the Labour parliamentary group in Scotland have happened when they were part of the Scottish Government.

The Scotland Act states that for whatever reason the vacancy of First Minister arises that the position must be filled within 28 days. This forced the use of the ‘mini’ Electoral College (EC) back when McConnell went toe to toe with McLeish. The EC was made up of the Labour party executive and the MSPs. Technically McLeish only became interim leader at this point and was later ratified unopposed by a ‘full’ EC.

It is though the proposed EC which was considered after the McLeish resignation that will be the one faced by the Labour leadership candidates. This EC was to be made up of all party members in Scotland and trade union affiliate members, MPs, MSPs and MEPs. It was believed that this full college would be able to beat the 28 day deadline. There would be no block voting for the trade unions as the individual members of the unions would have their own ballot – although being an EC there are some who votes would carry a higher weighting. For this to happen though there needed to be two candidates and the candidates needed 7 MSPs to support them – John McAllion and Malcolm Chisholm simply couldn`t find the support at the time.

I haven`t heard what system will be used this time but I would presume it would be the full EC – especially that since they are no longer in Government in Scotland they don`t have to beat the 28 day barrier.

There are a number of names in the frame – Andy Kerr and Wendy Alexander being the most prominent. Others that have emerged are Margaret Curran and Tom McCabe, while there are a number of outsiders including Iain Gray and Baron Foulkes.

Will there be a challenger from the left though and if so who would that be? The ‘Campaign for Socialism’ have claimed in the past that they have between 7 – 9 Labour MSPs in their ranks. Elaine Smith is the most clearly affiliated to the CfS, followed by Cathy Peattie, Marylin Glen and possibly Bill Butler. If the CfS could get a candidate to the starting post could they count on the trade union support? I suspect these considerations will be ongoing. If they are looking for a candidate then perhaps my erstwhile opponent in Edinburgh North and Leith Malcolm Chisholm may yet get the call.

Cathy Jamieson was no stranger to the CfS and the left of the Labour party so perhaps she may be persuaded to throw her hat into the ring for the leadership post – although I suspect she may step down as deputy leader when McConnell vacates his post. If she does then the deputy position may be the one the CfS would seek to focus on.

If nothing else it will give this summer recess more than its fair share of idle speculation.