Four candidates in the running to replace Lib Dem MP Barrett

Published on Thursday 17 September 2009 09:51

LIBERAL Democrats have drawn-up a shortlist of four would-be candidates to succeed Edinburgh West MP John Barrett when he steps down at the next general election.

The four – who now face a vote by party members in the constituency – are city health and social care convener Paul Edie, former Scottish Government minister Euan Robson, ex-policeman Mike Crockart and party policy convener Siobhan Mathers.

But there is no place for city council environment leader Robert Aldridge, who was runner-up to Mr Barrett when he was first selected in 2001.

Edinburgh West is the second safest Liberal Democrat seat in the UK with a 13,600 majority, so whoever wins the selection contest now under way is almost guaranteed a seat in the Commons.

Thirteen hopefuls applied for the candidacy and eight were interviewed.

Party insiders said they believed the shortlist offered members a choice of strong candidates with a variety of experience.

Councillor Edie, who represents Corstorphine and Murrayfield, has been a key member of the Lib Dem-SNP coalition running Edinburgh since 2007. He has been a councillor in the area for 15 years and came third in the 2001 selection contest behind Mr Barrett and Councillor Aldridge.

Mr Robson, former MSP for Roxburgh & Berwickshire, was a deputy minister in the Labour- Lib Dem coalition at Holyrood, first for parliamentary business and then education and young people. But he lost his Scottish Parliament seat to the Tories in 2007.

Mr Crockart, who now works in financial services, came a surprisingly-strong second when he stood in Labour-held Edinburgh North and Leith at the last General Election in 2005. He stood in the same constituency at the 2007 Holyrood elections and has also fought two council by-elections. He has been constituency convener in Edinburgh West since the start of the year.

Ms Mathers, who has a background in public relations, finished second to Labour's Sarah Boyack in Edinburgh Central at the last Holyrood election. She is married to Lib Dem councillor Charles Dundas and has a two-year-old son.

There was surprise in the party at Cllr Aldridge's failure to make the shortlist, but he said he knew the committee had "a difficult decision to make" in whittling down the numbers.

He said he had not yet decided which of the remaining candidates he would back. "I'm waiting to hear what they all have to say. I'm sure an excellent candidate will emerge."

And he said he would now concentrate on his council role.

"There is a major job to be done as environment leader on the council, which is what I will be focusing on," he added.

The shortlisted candidates now face weeks of internal campaigning before a vote by all party members in Edinburgh West at the end of next month.

Mr Barrett took everyone by surprise when he announced in July that he was standing down after eight years as MP.

He said he wanted a change and it was "good to go out at the top". He said he wanted to have more time for his two grandchildren.

'I found a community that didn't judge me'

PATRICK Tully, 38, is a well-spoken former lawyer who, a few months before he nervously walked down that flower-trimmed path to Malta House's front door, was drinking himself to death.

Today he's talking about learning to play the banjo, returning to work as a lawyer and even has plans to write a sitcom. "It'll be set in a rehab clinic," he says.

"Where would I be if I hadn't come here? I'd be dead," Patrick, below, adds.

Vodka and cocaine sent him crashing from a comfortable life as a London lawyer to a state that saw him almost crawling to the off-licence for his daily bottle-and-a-half of booze.

Fourteen years of addiction were interspersed with eight detox programmes which temporarily succeeded then failed.

He entered LEAP's programme in April and has been "clean" since. "My life became unmanageable a long time ago," he explains. "I started losing friends, my career was untenable, I lost my home.

"I was on my knees. I was broken. I was having suicidal thoughts."

His brother brought him to Edinburgh, where he struggled for months until finally starting LEAP's recovery programme in April.

"At first I was reluctant because, ridiculous as it is, I didn't want to take three months out of my life doing this. But I found a community that didn't judge me, they accepted me and cared about what happened to me," he recalls. "I had this full range of services and support. I knew I would come out of this and not have to worry about finding a house and that there'd be opportunities to retrain.

"For three months in here I didn't have to think about anything other than recovery."