Michael Kelly: Political intrigue dreamt up by opposition spin

I'M SORRY, but I'm not buying it. I'm being offered hidden issues behind Steven Purcell's resignation, internecine struggles that will paralyse the city, secret and corrupt networks within the Labour Party, party patronage which has established a network of power across the west of Scotland.

It's a tempting menu of delicious titbits of scandal and gossip following the resignation of Steven Purcell that I could well take home and enjoy in front of the telly.

It's an intriguing horror film of Labour, inside the council, dictatorially controlling all the reins of power while externally its insidious influence extends into all areas of Glasgow society.

Sadly, like most conspiracy theories, it's bunkum. And it's old hat. Some of the opinions offered read like cut-and-paste jobs from the cuttings of the 1970s and 80s.

Where is the evidence of the over-arching power of the council? Where are the facts to back up claims that Labour's tentacles extend menacingly from George Square into the businesses and homes of petrified Glaswegians like some monster out of Dr Who?

There aren't any. It's all innuendo, speculation and smears.

Historically, there was some justification for such a portrayal. Forty years ago Glasgow Corporation did wield enormous powers of patronage. Councillors controlled the allocation of the vast number of houses the city owned and councillors interviewed teachers for promoted posts.

There was plenty of room for corrupt practices in those systems. At the same time, the Direct Works department represented everything that was bad about the relationship between trade unions and elected members, leading to feather-bedding for workers and appalling service for tenants.

But all that was swept away years ago. Two reorganisations of local government and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament have severely curtailed the powers of councils.

Proportional representation means that instead of Labour winning 90 per cent of the seats, as it did regularly under the first-past-the-post system, opposition parties currently have 32 seats against Labour's 46.