The strange tale of Labour and the missing candidate

AS THE members of Glasgow East Labour party filed into Tollcross Leisure Centre at 7pm on Friday, they were expecting a relatively short meeting.

Local man George Ryan, a burly councillor with a typically quick Glaswegian sense of humour, was about to be rubber-stamped as the party's Westminster candidate.

So sure did the decision appear, party activists on the stump that day had already told locals he was the prospective MP. But this being the Labour party in 2008, everything was about to fall to pieces.

Instead of accepting his candidacy, Ryan was at home, agonising over his future. And Prime Minister Gordon Brown was about to be plunged into the latest crisis to afflict his hapless Scottish party.

The word that something was wrong came just after seven, when Ryan called the party's central office. "It was a bit unclear, but he basically said he wanted out," said one senior source. The local party members decided to give him another hour. Calls were frantically made in an attempt to persuade him to stay. But Ryan wasn't for budging.

Ten-year-old allegations about housing benefit claims – over which he has been exonerated – were about to resurface and Ryan didn't want to put his family through it.

At the same time on the previous Friday, Labour's bush telegraph had been convulsed by rumours that Wendy Alexander was quitting the top job in Scotland and that the Glasgow East MP David Marshall, one of the party's longest serving members, was resigning. The nomination meeting at Tollcross was supposed to act as part of the closure to that double shock. Instead, the increasingly surreal soap opera that is the modern-day Scottish Labour party was about to take another turn.

In a statement released yesterday, Ryan said: "It is with regret that I have today removed my name from the shortlist of potential candidates. In the last 24 hours, I have come to recognise the pressures that this campaign would put on my family life, and I have taken the decision to put my family first.

"I hope people understand and respect my decision. Of course, I wish whoever is selected to represent Labour in the East End every success. I will campaign for them."

Ryan's decision caused shock waves in Glasgow and beyond. As with Alexander, there was both sympathy and anger that he had quit over what party chiefs insist are spurious allegations. "He has dropped the party in it," said one source. Others point out that the stress such stories inflict on family life is often ignored. "It's all very well for people in the game to take a hit, but for the partners, it's really hard to take," said another.

But as Friday night drew on, feelings for Ryan had to be put to one side. At the party's John Smith House HQ, campaign manager and Scotland Office minister David Cairns was tearing his hair out.

Earlier, he had been talking up Labour's prospects in the seat. Despite the party's plummeting fortunes since then, the first signs were looking good, suggesting the vote was holding steady. Cairns was preparing to head to the constituency on Saturday for the official launch – alongside Ryan.

And now this. Labour faced going into the first weekend of campaigning without a candidate, in an election that could force the Prime Minister to resign. The pressure was on: find someone.

Scotland on Sunday understands that allies of Brown turned to Ryan's close friend and immediate boss, Steven Purcell. The 35-year-old leader of Glasgow City Council has gradually been gaining a reputation as one of the party's rising stars, a reputation cemented last year when he led Glasgow's successful bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Purcell's increasing popularity in Glasgow over the past year has been one bright note in a miserable time for the Scottish party. Brown now wanted to buy into some of that stardust.

Purcell had spent much of Friday fending off claims that he was preparing to make a stand in the seat. The blogosphere had picked up rumours that Brown had called Purcell no fewer than four times the previous weekend, urging him to stand.

Purcell insisted the story was unfounded and repeated that he didn't want the seat. But with Ryan out of the picture – and Labour's campaign in free fall before it had even begun – he began to feel the heat. Colleagues say the calls carried on until 3am yesterday, with Brown, if not in person then certainly in spirit, pressing him to come to the party's aid.

As Scotland woke yesterday, the chaos continued. Purcell and his allies dug in their heels. "Why would he want to quit real power just to sit on the backbenches?" said one source.

And then the idea of Margaret Curran emerged – from the Glasgow party, not No 10, it is understood. The selection of the MSP for Glasgow Baillieston had an added attraction. Until yesterday, she was facing being bumped out of Holyrood due to boundary changes.

So, assuming she turns up, Curran will be among three candidates up for selection tomorrow night. And should she be chosen, Labour insiders were last night suggesting that they may well have turned accidently upon the right candidate. Curran is popular among Labour voters in the East End and Labour remains confident it can win the seat on July 24.