Could an ex-shipyard apprentice be the future of Scottish Labour Party?

IAIN Gray turned to the next generation of Labour politicians yesterday as he unveiled his new front-bench team.

Mr Gray, the new Scottish Labour leader, brought in young rising star John Park, 35 – a former shipyard apprentice – to look after the all-important economy and skills portfolio.

He also promoted Richard Baker, 34, as shadow justice minister. Neither of the newcomers has held any sort of ministerial office before.

But by bringing in new faces, Mr Gray also turned away from many more experienced colleagues. There was no room in his shadow cabinet for Jackie Baillie, one of his predecessor Wendy Alexander's main allies and the former Labour business manager, nor for other former cabinet ministers like Hugh Henry, Malcolm Chisholm, Tom McCabe or Patricia Ferguson.

Mr Gray's team does include his leadership rivals Cathy Jamieson and Andy Kerr, who were given the jobs they wanted – health and finance respectively – and there were also continued shadow cabinet positions for three ministers who served in Ms Alexander's team: Pauline McNeill (culture), Sarah Boyack (rural affairs) and Rhona Brankin (education).

The new shadow cabinet team fits in with Mr Gray's determination to make a clean break with the 2007 election and look ahead to the 2011 poll.

Margaret Curran, the former communities minister, has been brought into the cabinet but with a roving brief of developing policy ahead of the next election.

Johann Lamont, who was elected party deputy leader on Saturday, replaces Ms Baillie as chief of staff.

Mr Park said yesterday his rapid promotion had been unexpected. He said: "It was a surprise, but a nice surprise. I have always just tried to bring the experience I gained outside the parliament into my work here; I guess I am a bit different from many of the people here."

Asked about his future plans, he replied: "I don't even know where I am going to be beyond the next election. I came into politics because I have always been a Labour Party member. After we lost the Dunfermline West by-election, I thought people should step up to the plate, so that's what I did."

The Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP also announced his intention of taking a strong, radical approach to policy, making it clear he wanted to see new nuclear power stations back on the agenda. He said: "Energy security and supply is a key issue and I think the SNP policy is out of kilter. I am in favour of new nuclear power stations being looked at more closely."

Mr Gray said yesterday that he had split the economy and finance brief in two and put both Mr Kerr and Mr Park in the shadow cabinet because of the importance of that area.

"The economy and strong and rising levels of skills should be central to our agenda and to Scotland as well," he said.

Mr Baker, the other new, young member of the shadow cabinet was Mr Gray's campaign manager and he also donated £520 to Mr Gray's leadership campaign.

His promotion is at least partly a reward for the hard work he put in during that campaign.

The SNP, however, branded Mr Gray's shadow cabinet moves as "shuffling the deckchairs" on a sinking ship.

PROFILE

JOHN Park was only at Holyrood for 18 months before being called up to Iain Gray's shadow cabinet, but has been a Labour Party member for most of his working life.

His family roots lie in the Fife coal mining industry and he has said he sees serving as an MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife as "a privilege and an important responsibility".

The 35-year-old left school to start work as an electrician in the Rosyth dockyards at the age of 15.

He became a shop steward and went on to serve as a full-time official with several unions and the Scottish TUC. He has also played a senior role in employee relations for Babcock Naval Services.

His union credentials allowed Mr Park to play an instrumental role in helping Mr Gray get elected leader, cajoling and persuading the influential Unite union to support him rather than Ms Jamieson.

Who's who in Labour's line-up

1 JOHN PARK: The rising star of the Scottish Labour Party. He became an MSP for the first time last year, but already this former shipyard apprentice has been given the key job of shadowing the economy and skills brief. This is partly in recognition of his work in this area, partly a reward for his pro-union work in the campaign for Mr Gray, but it is also a sign of how highly he is rated by Labour leaders.

2 MICHAEL McMAHON: A McConnell loyalist, Mr McMahon also managed to bridge most of the factions within the party. He has been rewarded by being made Labour's parliamentary business manager.

3 RICHARD BAKER: One of the biggest winners in this new team, he has been promoted from relative obscurity to one of the main shadow posts – justice.

4 ANDY KERR: Failed leadership challenger has been put in charge of finance and sustainable growth. He will be expected to harry the Scottish Government over the budget.

5 DAVID STEWART: A former MP elected to the Scottish Parliament for the first time last year, he has been promoted to the job of Labour's chief whip.

6 RHONA BRANKIN: She is an ally of Iain Gray, and the new leader is keeping her in the education and lifelong learning brief to build on the work she has done in the past year.

7 SARAH BOYACK: The Edinburgh Central MSP was brought back from the political wilderness by Wendy Alexander and she has retained her job of shadowing rural affairs and the environment.

8 JOHANN LAMONT: This is a step up for the new deputy Labour leader. She has been given special responsibility for equalities and will also take on the post of being Iain Gray's chief of staff.

9 MARGARET CURRAN: The unsuccessful Labour candidate in Glasgow East, she has been given a roving brief within the Labour team to develop policy. It gives her considerable power without too much responsibility.

10 IAIN GRAY: The new leader of the Scottish Labour group, he has strong links with Westminster and is very loyal to Gordon Brown.

11 PAULINE McNEILL: A close ally of Wendy Alexander, she has been moved from the high-profile justice brief to the more minor Europe, external affairs and culture portfolio.

12 CATHY JAMIESON: She came second in the leadership contest and her reward was to choose the portfolio she wanted – she chose health.