THE former leader of Edinburgh City Council has quit as head of the Labour group to take up a key Church of Scotland post.
Ewan Aitken has resigned from his position as leader of the opposition to become secretary of the Kirk's influential Church and Society Council.
The move, announced yesterday, came just weeks after Mr Aitken was re-elected unopposed as Labour le
ader at the group's annual meeting.
He said he was standing down as it would not be "tenable" to speak for both Church and party, although he will remain as councillor for the Craigentinny and Duddingston ward.
Mr Aitken, an ordained minister, took over as leader of the council following the departure of Donald Anderson in 2006. Labour lost control of the capital the following year.
The 46-year-old father of two was elected to the council in 1999 for the Restalrig ward and served as city education chief before taking over as leader.
Commenting on the state of the Labour group and the national party, he said that it had to "re-engage with its roots" to regain the public's trust.
Mr Aitken refused to be drawn on a likely successor, saying he was "stepping well back from that". However, he hoped a new leader would be chosen before the end of summer.
Council insiders believe that former Lord Provost Lesley Hinds and ex-transport leader Andrew Burns will be the front-runners, though other challengers are a possibility.
Mr Burns said yesterday that the announcement had been a "genuine surprise". "At a personal level, I do wish him all the best for his new post with the Church of Scotland," he said.
"I believe he'll be a hard act to follow … despite the undeniable travails of Labour at Holyrood and Westminster, I think most people would acknowledge Labour have adjusted comparatively well to opposition in the City Chambers and are doing a decent job at what we're supposed to do – holding those in power to account for their actions, or inactions."
Mr Aitken said he was asked to apply for the Kirk job several weeks ago, but had only been offered it on Friday.
"It was a hugely difficult decision. There is a sense in which people have supported you but then you're saying, 'Well, that was great, but now I want to do something else'. But they've been brilliant about it. I formally told the group today and they just congratulated me on getting the job and understood that at times, opportunities just come."
The appointment is the first by the Church and Society Council's new convener, the Rev Ian Galloway. The post is highly politicised, setting down the Kirk's stance on political, social and ethical issues.
Both men are friends and past members of the Kirk's Iona Community, known for its liberal political outlook.
Though Mr Aitken is an ordained minister, he does not have a parish.
He said: "I hope that I will be able to help the Church to communicate what it means. One of the challenges the Church has had is that while it's had some very good thinking, it's not always been very coherent in its communication in terms of being clear and accessible."
Mr Galloway said that in addition to bringing a "wealth of experience" to the post, Mr Aitken would help efforts to make the Kirk more media-friendly: "He has a fair amount of experience relating to the media and in presenting to the media."
The full article contains 590 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
