'It's a fiasco – but my nose isn't in the trough'

SCOTTISH Labour leader Wendy Alexander last night admitted she had presided over a "fiasco" in the row over her campaign donations.

But Alexander vowed to rebuild her leadership by championing a less cynical style of politics, revealing how she even considers "Buddhist" values of truth and kindness before launching attacks against opponents.

And in a wide-ranging Scotland on Sunday interview, Alexander angrily ridiculed any suggestion that she was on a political gravy train, pointing out she earned far less now than she did when working in the private sector.

But it emerged last night that Alexander has effectively been put on a year's probation by senior party figures, who warned she had until the 2009 European elections to prove her leadership credentials.

Alexander was cleared by election chiefs last week despite wrongly accepting a £950 donation from a businessmen in Jersey. The law says that politicians can only accept cash from UK taxpayers.

She insisted she had acted "honourably" during her leadership campaign last summer, claiming she had tried "to do the right thing". In a frank interview, she angrily dismissed any suggestion she was in politics for personal gain.

"Actually, the thing is that, goddammit, I am poorer now than I have been in 20 years. I earned more in the private sector than I ever earned in politics," she declared.

She added: "You have to look the part as well, goddammit. I never had my hair highlighted in my life before. Whatever this is, it's not a gravy train."

Alexander called for a less cynical style of politics, revealing that she considers Buddhist mantras before leading political attacks against opponents. "(Politics] is not the sort of world where the Buddhist mantra of, 'is it true, is it necessary, and is it kind', is very often applied to a political speech. But I do sometimes give thought before I speak to whether those tests have been applied," she said.

Alexander said she did not want to cast slurs on Alex Salmond's own honesty for the sake of scoring political points.

"It's not that I don't want to stand up and take Alex Salmond on, but do I fundamentally think he is a corrupt politician? No I don't."

Alexander's comments come with senior party figures warning that she has until next year's European elections to prove that she is capable of leading the party in Scotland over the long-term.

A senior party source said: "If she can demonstrate leadership she has got until the European elections next year. "

Several other party sources contacted by Scotland on Sunday said they believed she had no future at all. "She is toast," said one well-placed insider.

FACE TO FACE: READ CATHERINE DEVENEY'S INTERVIEW WITH THE LABOUR LEADER