Troubled ex-council head may be set to launch a comeback to city chambers
BY PAUL HUTCHEON
ACONTROVERSIAL former Glasgow City Council leader will decide today whether to launch a high-stakes political comeback for Labour. Steven Purcell, who quit the post after suffering from problems with cocaine and alcohol, has to inform his party by Wednesday if he wants a return to the city chambers.
He told the Sunday Herald yesterday: “After a final discussion with my family tomorrow at our normal Sunday get-together I will make my final decision either way.” However, opinion is divided on the prospect of a Purcell candidacy, with one Labour source saying there is “no appetite” for “resurrecting figures from the past”.
Purcell led Scotland’s largest local authority between 2005 and 2010, but resigned after checking in to a rehab clinic in Peebleshire that specialises in treating alcohol and drug addictions. He also quit as a councillor and became a business consultant.
It later emerged that police officers from the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) had visited him as leader to warn him about a potential blackmail threat.
The Herald revealed earlier this month Purcell, six years on from the trauma of leaving frontline politics, is mulling over a Glasgow comeback at next year’s local government elections.
Potential candidates must submit a nomination form to a Local Campaign Forum (LCF) by the middle of the week. An assessment panel will interview applicants and make recommendations on whether a nominee should be included on a panel of candidates.