The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Fife MSP is considering Labour deputy bid
CONTEST: Alex Rowley likely to be one of four contenders if he puts himself forward
Fife MSP Alex Rowley is considering throwing his hat in the ring to be Scottish Labour’s deputy leader.
The Cowdenbeath representative confirmed he will make a decision in the coming days on whether or not to stand to replace Kezia Dugdale, who quit the post to go for the party’s top job.
Mr Rowley – who favours radical reform including a separate Scottish Labour party and a strong left-of-centre change agenda – is likely to come up against Shadow Finance Secretary Jackie Baillie and councillors Gordon Matheson and Stephen McCabe, should he put himself forward.
The close ally of former prime minister Gordon Brown and ex-general secretary of the party said: “I’m certainly considering it.
“Obviously I need to talk to colleagues and that’s what I’m doing today and tomorrow. I’m clear there needs to be fundamental change in Labour and there needs to be a completely different approach in terms of strategy.
“It (running for deputy) depends if anybody else is going for it that holds similar views to me about where the party’s at and where it needs to be.
“I’m keen that, whether it’s me or somebody I support, it’s somebody who identifies those needs.”
It came as leadership contender Ken Macintosh used a TV interview to claim Ms Dugdale is not experienced enough to be in charge of the party.
Speaking on BBC Sunday Politics Scotland the day after Jim Murphy quit following just six months in the job, he said: “As it happens I actually think Kezia is a fantastic person, very able, very articulate, a lovely person.
“I like her a lot and was one of her big supporters for deputy leader. It’s just she is just not experienced enough yet.”
Labour’s Scottish executive agreed to a raft of changes to how the party is run on Saturday, including voting systems for electing leaders and protecting the electoral list status of MSPs.
Meanwhile, former leader Johann Lamont has said “nothing should be off the table”, including Scottish Labour splitting from the UK party.
In a damning critique of general election campaign tactics, she said there was a refusal to contemplate the fact that people had turned elsewhere if they were looking for change.
“We ended up sounding only as if we wanted to save people from their own stupidity,” Ms Lamont said.
“So whatever we do we cannot blame the electorate for being duped, or simply say that we did not have the best candidates, or that the problem lies with the calibre of our MSPs.”