Donations-row MSP returns to Labour's front bench

Published on Wednesday 28 October 2009 21:20

THE Labour MSP whose actions helped to bring down Wendy Alexander as Scottish party leader has been handed a key job in its front-bench team.

Glasgow Cathcart MSP Charlie Gordon has been handed back the job as transport spokesman by new leader Iain Gray. He was forced to resign from the role last year after it emerged he had accepted an illegal campaign donation.

The former Glasgow City Council leader accepted a cheque for 950 from Jersey-based businessman Paul Green for Ms Alexander's leadership campaign. Mr Gordon claimed he took the money in "good faith", not realising Mr Green could not make donations because he lived outside the UK.

An Electoral Commission inquiry found it was "not in the public interest" to refer the case to the Crown Office.

The wider row over the funding of Ms Alexander's leadership campaign eventually led to her downfall, as she also faced a Holyrood inquiry for failing to register donations.

Mr Gordon refused to stand down as an MSP, but, until yesterday, he was left on the margins of the party. He takes over the transport and infrastructure portfolio from Des McNulty, who has moved to education.

A Labour Party spokesman said the donation was "all in the past now", and it was "widely acknowledged that Mr Gordon is one of Holyrood's experts on transport".

But SNP MSP Jamie Hepburn said: "The only way Iain Gray can keep his party loyal is to give them a job – even those like Charlie Gordon who previously resigned in disgrace."