Round one to Labour as SNP accused of hypocrisy over 'two jobs' jibe

THE SNP yesterday delighted its opponents in the race to win the Glasgow East by-election with its first serious mistake of the campaign.

John Mason, the Nationalist candidate, announced that his Labour opponent Margaret Curran would need to choose between being an MP or an MSP.

Mr Mason – who intends to resign his seat on Glasgow City Council if elected on 24 July – seemed to have forgotten that his boss, Alex Salmond, holds four jobs. As well as being MSP for Gordon, Mr Salmond is MP for Banff and Buchan, First Minister and leader of the SNP.

Last night the SNP MSP Sandra White accused Ms Curran of trying to "mislead" voters by claiming to have lived in Glasgow's east end all her life.

Ms White said the Labour candidate was known to have lived in the southside of Glasgow for several years.

The Nationalist MSP said: "For Margaret Curran to claim on national television that she has lived in the east end all her life is to mislead voters in a crucial by-election contest on only her first day."

Mr Mason's gaffe had been a welcome boost to Ms Curran as she officially launched her campaign yesterday. The Nationalists had been making the most of the fact she was selected as the party's fifth-choice candidate three days after Labour intended to announce who would be standing.

Mr Mason said: "Margaret Curran needs to decide – does she want to be an MP for Glasgow East or an MSP? Before anyone even considers voting Labour they should ask very carefully, do they want a full-time representative or a part-timer?"

Immediately, Labour accused the SNP of "breathtaking hypocrisy". Campaign manager David Cairns, the Scotland Office minister, said: "Alex Salmond must be furious at Councillor Mason's latest blunder."

Tory leader Annabel Goldie suggested Mr Salmond take his candidate's advice and resign his Westminster seat, too.

"I agree with Mr Mason," she said. "But what's sauce for Labour's goose is sauce for the Nationalists' gander."

The gaffe provoked frantic spinning from the SNP communications team, who claimed the First Minister "absolutely" agreed with Mr Mason.

A spokesman said: "Mr Salmond stood on a pledge in Banff and Buchan in 2005 to serve the full parliamentary term, and that he was running to be First Minister in 2007, and secured a resounding endorsement from the electorate, which is totally different to Margaret Curran's position in Glasgow."

The SNP claimed Ms Curran would have to decide between the differing opinions of Holyrood Labour and Westminster Labour. It issued a ten-item list of policy differences headed by an early independence referendum supported by Holyrood Labour but opposed by Gordon Brown.

Meanwhile, a challenge by Ms Curran to Mr Mason for a television debate turned out to be less of an ambush than it first appeared. Immediately after her selection on Monday night, she laid down the gauntlet which was eagerly taken up.

But The Scotsman has since learned the two already knew that the BBC was organising a debate between the four candidates from the main parties on Sunday's Politics Show at 1pm.

That will also include Liberal Democrat Ian Robertson and Conservative Davena Rankin.

In launching his campaign, Mr Robertson evoked the spirit of the Dunfermline by-election, which was won by his party, in claiming Glasgow East was not a two-horse race.

ANALYSIS

LABOUR finally managed to field a candidate yesterday in the fight which could well decide the fate of Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister.

And the first skirmish between Margaret Curran and her Nationalist rival John Mason was revealing in the way the campaign will go. The almost instant personal attack on Ms Curran, following her own challenge for a television debate, suggests that it is going to be a dirty contest between the main protagonists in this two-horse race.

However, the tactic also showed that the Nationalists are as at good making gaffes as Labour.

And, in the end, what may decide this epic tussle is simply who makes the least mistakes.