Charlie Says...

Before Charlie Gordon made the mistake of soliciting an illegal donation on behalf of the Wendy Alexander there was a school of thought that he would be the best man to succeed her.

After soliciting the donation I had thought that Charlie wasn`t going to stick his head above the parapet for quite some time. How wrong I was as it seems that he has now thrown his hat into the ring.

But Charlie Gordon as leader...surely not I hear you cry. Well let’s think seriously about it. Let’s ignore the fact that the illegal donation has fatally damaged him. Other than that is he a credible candidate.

He was never a Minister in the last administration so some may cry inexperience...but he was the leader of the biggest council in Scotland for many years and can try and turn the responsibility for the loss of the last election onto those involved in the last administration.

He’s quick on his feet and a sharp operator – you don`t get to be leader of Glasgow Labour and Glasgow Council, with all the internal backstabbing that goes on there, without being a shrewd politician.

Wendy just wasn`t credible as a woman of the people whereas Charlie passes the oldest test in the political world ‘would you go for a drink with him?’ I suspect the answer is yes. He’s an affable and generally very nice guy. Unlike Wendy (and Iain Gray, Andy Kerr and Margaret Curran) he can often come across as being a human being – rather than as a professional politician.

And the big one, could he handle a head to head with Salmond. Which of course is the great unknown of any of Labour’s candidates for leadership. He can certainly bring a level of wit and humour that most of the other Labour candidates could not.

The illegal donation though really rules him out realistically, and I suspect that his motive is to put himself back at the top table when a new leader is selected. Keeping his profile up as a potential strong ally to be courted, which could put him back in the shadow cabinet and a position to bide his time before standing in the next Labour leadership election (shall we say 2010?).