Can this woman save the party?

MARGARET Curran is Scottish Labour's proverbial 'bonnie fechter' – a woman who is committed to the cause and happy to take the fight to her enemies.

Now 49 and the party's Holyrood health and communities spokeswoman, she is popular in Glasgow and regarded as a hardworking constituency MSP. But she has courted controversy in the past, especially when she was embroiled in Labour in-fighting in an earlier high-profile nomination campaign.

Then, in 1995, she was first a candidate then election agent to Mohammed Sarwar for the Labour nomination in Glasgow Govan. Sarwar fought Mike Watson – later jailed for fire-raising – for the seat after boundary changes threatened both their places in the Commons.

The battle was bloody and ended up with a controversial recount. Curran later had to give evidence in court when Sarwar was charged with electoral fraud over a different matter. He was exonerated.

It was a brutal introduction to the world of real politics for Curran, who had became involved while at Glasgow University in the 1970s. At the time she was close to Johann Lamont and Sarah Boyack, who both later became Labour MSPs.

Curran was a lecturer in community education at Strathclyde University when she failed to find her own berth at Westminster. But she showed the determination for which she is now known by then fighting for a spot as a Labour candidate for the Scottish Parliament, and in 1999 she became MSP for Glasgow Baillieston.

Married to Rab, with two sons, Curran started low on the ministerial ladder when Henry McLeish made her deputy minister for social justice. She was charged with helping transfer Glasgow's council homes into housing associations and again showed her fighting spirit in clashes behind the scenes with Charlie Gordon, then Glasgow council leader and now a fellow MSP.

Curran was later promoted into the Cabinet as Minister for Social Justice, a title which later changed to that of Minister for Communities. Jack McConnell's decision to move her to the post of Minister for Parliamentary Business took many observers and Labour insiders by surprise, but it proved suited to her feistiness.

The job became dubbed 'Minister for Newsnicht', a reference to her many appearances on television to justify the then Executive's actions.

A week ago, she was being touted as one of the front-runners in the Scottish party leadership battle and was seen as one of the most likeable characters among the possible candidates.

Earlier this year, Curran was caught up in a row about briefing against the former leader Wendy Alexander.

She admitted being at the centre of unflattering comments about Alexander's ability as party leader, including comments from Labour MSPs that Alexander's performance was "shocking and appalling".