LABOUR is to order virtually all of its Scottish MPs and MSPs to campaign in Glasgow East as it prepares for a "big fight" with the SNP in a knife-edge bid to save the Prime Minister.
Party chiefs have e-mailed the 39 Scottish Labour MPs at Westminster asking them to turn out, while MSPs have agreed to put campaigning for the party leadership at Holyrood – which is currently in recess – on hold until after the 24 July polling day.
Labour launched its opening salvo in the life-or-death by-election yesterday with a visit by Cabinet minister Douglas Alexander and four other leading figures to the constituency to convince voters to stay loyal to the party.
Mr Alexander, the UK International Development Secretary, told The Scotsman: "We are working hard to win. We are not taking the voters for granted."
Senior MP Tom Clarke, who joined Mr Alexander as he toured Baillieston, said: "I think this will be a very hard fought campaign and so it should be.
"We have learned a lot of lessons from recent by-elections. We simply have to make sure we put up a big fight. We have done that in the past and we have won. Nobody, but nobody, is prepared to take this for granted."
With the future of Gordon Brown at stake after humiliations in the Crewe and Henley by-elections, Labour MSPs Charlie Gordon, Pauline McNeill and Ken Macintosh also joined in the canvassing.
And The Scotsman has learned Labour activists across the UK are being roped in to canvass potential voters in Glasgow East by cold-calling them from phone banks across England, and in Glasgow and Edinburgh, to check whether the party is addressing "issues of concern" to them.
Today Alex Salmond, the SNP First Minister, will try to ratchet up the pressure on Labour by accompanying the Nationalists' candidate, John Mason, on a shopping centre visit.
Then, next week, Tory leader David Cameron and former leader Iain Duncan Smith will visit. Their aim will be to embarrass the Prime Minister, who is expected to follow convention and stay away from the by-election, even though it is in his party's heartland.
Labour was last night selecting its candidate from a short-list of three: George Ryan, who was considered the favourite, Irene Graham and Doug Maugham.
On the ground, The Scotsman found clear signs of support for the SNP, which has to overturn a 13,507 majority in Labour's third safest seat in Scotland if it is to inflict the third by-election defeat this year on Mr Brown and condemn him to consider resignation or limp towards a likely General Election defeat.
The SNP's chances were boosted by the decision of former MSP Tommy Sheridan not to stand for the Solidarity party. Bookmakers William Hill made the SNP 5/6 joint favourites with Labour.
Mr Mason, an SNP Glasgow city councillor, accused Mr Brown of "running scared". Mr Salmond said: "This by-election is an opportunity for people in the East End of Glasgow to send a message to London."
The by-election was called after sitting Labour MP David Marshall stood down on health grounds.
Mr Clarke told The Scotsman: "MPs will be there, MSPs will be there and I have no doubt Cabinet ministers will be there."
He added: "Douglas Alexander and I did quite a bit of Baillieston. We had a very, very good response. I don't want to be complacent – there is a lot of hard work required, but if we can do that we will hold the seat comfortably.
"I think a lot of Labour people who would not have voted realise this time their vote is particularly important. From what I was getting on the doorstep, they have a very, very good understanding of where the Labour government is and how important their constituency is.
"There are quite a lot of people who feel that Gordon Brown has been given a hard time. Glaswegians are like that. They're more likely to support people under attack."
WHO'S WHO
SNP
John Mason, 51 Leader of the SNP opposition on Glasgow Council, and a long-time resident of the city's East End, Mr Mason is councillor for the Ballieston ward.
An accountant by trade, he works full-time as a councillor, and is viewed very much as the voice of SNP at a local level.
He has a reputation as being combative in council dealings and has hard-line views on independence.
In March last year he was banned from meetings for nine months after he occupied the lord provost's seat in protest at changes in the voting system of the council.
Those who know him say Mr Mason is personable and extremely hard-working, as shown by his membership of every council committee and sub-committee.
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
Ian Robertson, 30A maths teacher at Bellahouston Academy in Glasgow's South Side, he was born and educated in the East End.
The youngest candidate, Mr Robertson's student background was in politics and debating, campaigning for the Liberal Democrats at Dundee and Strathclyde universities. He was the president of the Strathclyde Student Union.
Mr Robertson has said that he would be a "strong local champion" on unemployment and crime issues. He has claimed that "local people are feeling let down by Gordon Brown's Labour government."
In addition to playing the local card, Mr Robertson has also said that he is confident that he can make inroads into the Labour vote, attracting disillusioned voters.
CONSERVATIVES
Davena Rankin, 35 A veteran of previous Glasgow by-elections, in Cathcart and Kelvin, she will have her work cut out to make an impact in a two-horse race between Labour and the SNP.
Party sources believe her capable and intelligent, but nobody holds out much hope for her prospects in the polls.
As a non-white woman and a leading trade unionist, she is not the typical Conservative candidate. She was brought up in Glasgow, before going to Sussex University. Ms Rankin did Royal Navy basic training as an officer in 1997 before moving to Glasgow University to develop its commercial and entrepreneurial initiatives.
She is now the commercial manager for Research & Innovation Services at Glasgow Caledonian University.
LABOUR
George Ryan, 45 Tipped widely to be the Labour candidate, Mr Ryan is head of the council's pivotal development and regeneration department, and councillor for Shettleston.
Born and raised in the East End, he will make much of his involvement in the many regeneration projects currently under way in the area.
There are two other potential candidates short-listed: Irene Graham, a former Glasgow councillor and Doug Maughan, an airline pilot.
The full article contains 1123 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
