Iain Gray believes in policy before personality in attempt to trump Salmond card

Published on Sunday 1 May 2011 17:49

THERE is more to being First Minister than glad-handing at the golf course. Iain Gray is in the middle of summing up what he thinks has been wrong about the way some people are treating this election campaign.

He listened to one journalist say the other day that Alex Salmond would be the best man for the job because - for example - he would represent Scotland more ably when Gleneagles hosts the Ryder Cup in 2014.

"I don't particularly accept that Alex Salmond would be better at representing us, but I have to say to you - important though the Ryder Cup is - there are bigger and more important issues around in Scotland," he says. Unemployment, child poverty, "delivering infrastructure" are three things, he goes on. He may play golf, but you don't get the impression the Scottish Lab-our leader sees it as exactly central to his life.

Mr Gray is sipping a coffee in Edinburgh's Holyrood hotel, just a short walk up from the Scottish Parliament. Until recently it seemed highly likely that he would be taking over in the First Minister's chair there after Thursday's election. But a sudden reversal in the polls in the course of the campaign has turned him into the clear outsider.

His campaign has been dogged with claims it has lacked proper direction: first attacking David Cameron's coalition, then Alex Salmond's SNP. And, through it all, Mr Gray has faced questions over his own leadership - accentuated by the fact that, in Mr Salmond, Scots have an alternative whose ubiquity offers a clear contrast to Mr Gray's less well-known features.

Mr Gray says his lack of profile compared to Mr Salmond is inevitable given the latter's lifelong career in politics. It isn't surprising he therefore attempts to play the card that policy is more important than personality.

THE SNP has tried to turn this election into a "personality contest", he argues. But surely personality is important? A common refrain among voters is that, in Mr Salmond, they at least have someone who fills the job, and can represent the country. Has Mr Gray persuaded people likewise?

"I think leadership matters, but if that leadership is leadership in a policy vacuum then I don't think that serves policy well," he says. In other words, the question of personality is secondary. And the SNP, he goes on, is hiding deliberately behind that personality contest. "They have a plan for independence which they won't discuss, they won't tell us when the referendum is going to be, and how they see Scotland proceeding from there. What have they got in terms of a forward offer? They have a promise on the council tax freeze which no-one believes is credible.

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As for Mr Salmond's qualities on the stage, he adds: "The fact of the matter in terms of representing Scotland on the bigger stage, the biggest occasion he has done that over the last four years has been over the release of the Lockerbie bomber. I don't think, firstly, it was the right decision, and secondly I don't think it particularly enhanced Scotland's reputation."

As is often the case with Mr Gray, a question which starts on the topic of himself ends on the subject of his rival. Mr Salmond has claimed Labour won't win this week because Mr Gray's campaign has been too negative. But there will be no letting up in Mr Gray's attacks. Labour has gained heart from polls at the weekend which show the gap between the two big parties slightly narrowing. So Mr Gray is continuing with his full-frontal assault on the SNP's plan to have a referendum on independence - saying it shows up the Nationalists' faulty priorities.

What about Mr Gray himself? His flagship jobs policy - he wants to create 250,000 of them - has been the centrepiece of Labour's campaign, largely because controversial ideas such as a reform of the council tax and tuition fees were binned.

Both the SNP and Labour stand accused of having binned anything remotely unpalatable in this campaign, ignoring the cash crisis coming the country's way as soon as the election is over. Not surprisingly, Mr Gray does not agree. The usual promise of efficiency savings will free up cash - so he is able promise that, for example, Scotland's universities do not lose out financially to their counterparts down south (although he warns that there will "need to be changes" in the length of many courses).

Claims his manifesto is for core Labour voters are wrong too, he says. There are plans for the "squeezed middle" too. A "First Foot" scheme will give first-time buyers support to get a mortgage.

The commitment to no tuition fees will take the heat of families wanting to send their children to university. And there is support for business as well, he argues. "Our manifesto makes it clearer we want to see a fairer Scotland as well as a more prosperous Scotland. It's not just about lower income families, but also to provide something to better off families."

THERE is no doubt Mr Gray will keep going to the wire this week - but it isn't hard to find MPs and MSPs in his party who don't think he'll do enough to win on Thursday. Hope, it seems, lies in where flaky LibDems and "don't knows" cast their ballot.

Mr Gray seems up for it - certainly more so than he did at the start of April after his notorious flit from Central Station in the face of anti-cuts protesters. But, bluntly, it sometimes seems as if he'd rather not have to campaign at all. Has he really enjoyed himself? "Yeah, look I have. One of the great privileges of being a politician is that you get to meet huge numbers of people and visit loads of places where people are going about their daily business and I love that."

Last week, he says he met a retired A&E nurse with 50 years experience who was backing Labour's knife crime plans. "Scotland is full of people who are inspirational," he says. Mr Gray may need to borrow some inspiration from them over the next 72 hours if he is to pull this one out of the bag.