Tension Mounts

The Scottish Labour party elects a new leader later today - to replace the outgoing Iain Gray who has led the party for the past four years - and to its disastrous defeat at the May 2011 Holyrood elections.

The contest has seen more than 300,000 ballot papers sent out - mostly to non-Labour party members amongst the trade unions - since there are less than 20,000 individual Labour party members these days.

The person who will have to reconnect Labour with the peopleof Scotland will come from:

Johann Lamont
MSP for Glasgow Pollok - who has been backed by 27 members of the party's MSP, MP and MEP group - and 12 unions including Unison.

Ken Macintosh
MSP for Eastwood - who is being supported by 26 parliamentarians and 5 trade unions.

Tom Harris
MP for Westminster seat of Glasgow South - who has won backing from 13 parliamentarians, including one MEP - but has not secured the support of any MSPs or unions.

Tom Harris is toast unfortunately - because he has failed to win any trade union support - so the battle for Labour's Scottish crown will be fought out between Ken and Johann.

I can hardly wait to hear the result - which will be declared in Edinburgh this afternoon.  

At which point Scottish Labour will unleash the winner - and it's onwards and upwards, as they say. 

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