Ross Lydall's by-election blog

Published on Wednesday 16 July 2008 18:20

Wednesday, 2305hrs

So, what stood out from the first hustings of the Glasgow East campaign (hosted tonight by the PCS union)?

Well, the biggest drama was the contretemps between Labour's Margaret Curran and the SNP's John Mason. Ms Curran, in an opening address, said she always aimed to be honest with people. To which Mr Mason interjected: "Except (about] where you live."

Back she came in a flash: "That is not fair. Behave yourself, John!" It was almost as if she was giving Wee Jimmy Krankie a clip round the ear.

The spat, by-election experts will recall, is based upon Ms Curran's claim that she has "lived in the East End all my life" - though it later transpired she had in fact lived in the southside for around 20 years.

Ms Curran failed to ender herself to the (seemingly) leftie audience by endorsing the Prime Minister's call for public sector wage restraint.

On this evidence, she is the one with most to prove - or defend - in the campaign. So much for it being Labour's third safest seat in Scotland.

What else springs to mind? One was the small turnout - no more than 50 people, I'd guess, though I'm pretty sure I saw Newsnight's political editor, Michael Crick, lurking at the back of the room.

The second was the performance of Ian Robertson, the Liberal Democrat candidate. Both Ms Curran and Mr Mason were believable and committed to their respective causes throughout, but Mr Robertson spoke like a star in the making. Shame he's picked the Lib-Dems - and I mean that thinking only of his own chances of a great political career, of course.

The other issue niggling away was the plan to close Parkhead fire station and merge it (in a new base) with the station in Cambuslang.

Scottish Fire Brigades Union rep Kenny Ross forcefully pointed out that this would mean the current total (across the stations) of 85 firefighters being cut to 50, three fire tenders being reduced to two "and the only increase being in response times".

There may, of course, be another side to this story - and it's one that is unlikely to feature large in the by-election campaign - but it's one that should concern the good Glaswegians, into whose lives the media has descended for a couple of crazy weeks.

Wednesday, 1840hrs

Alex Salmond has often been criticised for holding both the jobs of MP and MSP, and for not being the most regular of attendees in Westminster.

Now the SNP First Minister has revealed his (mock) concern for those Labour MPs heading in the opposite direction to truffle for votes in Glasgow East.

"I hope they're all coming on public transport," he said. "I'm very concerned at the carbon footprint of all these Labour MPs."

But the jibes don't end there. He remains in something of a honeymoon

period with the electorate - unlike members of Gordon Brown's Cabinet, who he reckons are so unpopular that they dare not show their faces.

"They will be having paper bags over their heads, with wee slits for their eyes, so that Douglas Alexander won't be recognised in any part of this constituency," he claimed.

"If they bring Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown, I think a double paper bag would be called for."

Easterhouse, Wednesday, 1720hrs

IN Easterhouse, even the road humps are hard.

Driving along along Lochend Road, in search of the first photo-call of the day, I was thrown about The Scotsman's by-election buggy - a blue four-door Vauxhall Astra - like a rag doll in a spin dryer.

On one side of the road was row upon row of council houses, not just boarded up but with steel plates covering their windows. Presumably the tenants were no longer inside.

On the other, however, were plenty of decent properties that wouldn't look out of place in any constituency.

At the end of the road, builders were hard at work - they knew the cameras were coming, after all - on 50 new family homes being built by developers Cruden, in partnership with Glasgow City Council. Eight will be sold privately and 42 will be offered to families on the council's waiting list.

First VIP to arrive was Labour council leader Steven Purcell. He used to be known around Glasgow as the man who helped the city win the 2014 Commonweath Games. Now he is known across the UK as the man who turned down Gordon Brown's overtures to stand as the Labour candidate.

Mr Purcell seems a nice chap. He also has very shiny black shoes. There were so shiny, even after a fleeting visit to the construction site, that even the fiercest Army sergeant would surely have approved. But he would have lost marks for getting dirt on his grey suit, underneath the high-visibility yellow waistcoat.

Margaret Curran wore a high-vis waistcoat too, which she "accessorised" - girls' term, I think - with a fancy neck scarf. Very New Labour. She also donned a hard hat. Enthusiastically.

"See what I do for the Labour party," she noted, as she posed out the front window of a half-built house.

Ms Curran is the woman who came to Labour's rescue and volunteered to stand. She's a smart cookie. And she takes no nonsense.

A journalist from the Daily Telegraph had been despatched to Glasgow East to cause mischief. This seemed to involve asking questions about subjects that had already featured in The Scotsman. As Labour's spin doctors went white, he gave Mr Purcell a hard time about turning down the Prime Minister, and then tried his luck with Ms Curran. She was having none of it.

"I think I'm the best candidate," she interjected. "I will take offence with you in a minute."

His card duly marked, he retreated. She headed off for some door-to-door canvassing, possibly with a Labour Cabinet minister or two secretly in tow.

"Margaret is our big hitter," explained a Labour spokesman. It was said with a degree of pride that, on first appearances, was not unjustistified.

Ross Lydall is The Scotsman's Political Editor. He'll be blogging from Glasgow East in the run-up to the election on July 24.