Review 2001 - October to December

Henry McLeish and Jack McConnell

BBC News Online Scotland's Brian Ponsonby looks back on some of the major political stories making the headlines in the final quarter of 2001.

The dénouement in the on-going saga over Henry McLeish's office expenses finally arrived in the final quarter of 2001.

For months the embattled first minister had been fending off allegations that he had been sub-letting part of his constituency office in Fife while claiming full rent from the Westminster Fees Office.

Although this was undoubtedly an embarrassment it was never perceived to be a resignation issue but tenacious questioning by opposition parties - most notably from Scottish Conservative leader David McLetchie - put Mr McLeish's credibility on public trial.

On 23 October, the first minister was finally pressurised into releasing a statement saying that he had paid £9,000 to the Commons Fees Office in a bid to settle any discrepancies.

Sir David Steel blocked initial attempts to question Mr McLeish

His official spokesman said that he continued to co-operate with the Commons authorities and believed that the matter should be cleared up once and for all.

This did not satisfy opposition parties and there were angry scenes in the chamber two days later when MSPs were barred from quizzing Mr McLeish about his Commons expenses.

Presiding Officer David Steel said it was a matter for the Westminster Parliament and was not a legitimate matter for discussion.

On 28 October the story took on another unwelcome twist for the first minister when Fife Constabulary confirmed that it would investigate a complaint made against him in relation to the expenses issue.

By now a media feeding frenzy had descended on the story and Mr McLeish was essentially annexed off from other issues - a point borne out when the row overshadowed his opening of a new hospital in Lanarkshire the following day.

Spectre of resignation

As November opened the first minister attempted to take the initiative by publishing details of his expenses claims and saying that he paid the money back out of his own pocket and that the £9,000 figure had been agreed with the Commons Fees Office.

Hours later his attempts to reassert some control over the direction of the story were in shreds after a less than sure-footed performance on BBC TV's Question Time.

Mr McLeish looked visibly uncomfortable as he struggled to placate the studio audience. Under a tight line of questioning he admitted that he did not know how much money he received from sub-letting his constituency office.

David McLetchie pursued the expenses row

Opposition parties then began to 'smell blood' and for the first time the spectre of resignation was raised by SNP leader John Swinney who cited the first minister's "humiliating" appearance on the programme.

On 4 November it emerged that Mr McLeish had instructed his accountant to hand over information about the row to the Inland Revenue.

Scots Tory leader David McLetchie then twisted the knife by saying that Mr McLeish had three days to save his career before facing a debate on the issues in the Scottish Parliament.

Unfortunately for Mr McLeish the debate was scheduled for a Thursday. This meant that he faced the prospect of the issue dominating first minister's questions after enduring a full debate

Two days before the debates were due to take place Mr McLeish said his troubles were "a muddle" and "not a fiddle" and he offered to pay back an additional £27,000 to the Commons authorities after it emerged the total rental income for sub letting the office since 1987 was £36,122.

Hurried exit

On the eve of the debates Mr McLeish cancelled all his planned engagements to prepare for what was now being billed as a "career saving" parliamentary performance.

Expectations of a monumental showdown in the chamber on 8 November were replaced by disbelief when Mr McLeish failed to appear for the morning debate.

Instead, Minister for Parliament Tom McCabe rose and told stunned MSPs that Mr McLeish had resigned and would make a full statement that afternoon.

A grim looking Henry McLeish resigned as first minister

Just after 1400GMT, Mr McLeish entered a hushed chamber to perform his final act as first minister. He looked tired, drawn and emotional as he read out a short statement before making a hurried exit.

It later emerged that as the first minister contemplated his fate on Wednesday night, he had learned of another sub-let to his office.

Trying to explain this to sanguinary opposition parties would have required an act of political bravura that Mr McLeish may have thought was beyond him at this late stage.

It was probably such ruminations and pleas from his family to abandon the job for health reasons which swung the balance.

Before the year was out more rows over office expenses would affect three Scots Labour MPs - Jim Murphy, Russell Brown and Nigel Griffiths.

Unashamed ambition

All would survive, however, despite strong protestations from opposition parties.

Even before most people had digested news of Mr McLeish's resignation, one man's name had emerged as the front-runner to replace him.

Jack McConnell challenged Mr McLeish for the leadership after Donald Dewar's untimely death and had only missed out on the top job by a handful of votes.

Wendy Alexander did not stand in the leadership race

He had a campaign team in place, a deep reservoir of support among MSPs and an unashamed ambition to become first minister.

As education minister he had also successfully masterminded the teachers' pay settlement and navigated the potentially fatal currents of another SQA exams crisis.

Mr McConnell was immediately installed as the bookies favourite but speculation was mounting that he would face a "stop Jack" candidate from within the cabinet.

Virtually all of his colleagues were quoted in some capacity but it was widely acknowledged that only one could muster the level of support needed to mount a serious challenge.

Enterprise Minister Wendy Alexander went to ground the weekend after Mr McLeish's resignation to take soundings on whether she should stand.

Clear run

It was widely thought that she was the candidate most acceptable to London Labour and many political observers expected her to declare during the week.

But in a dramatic development, which privately displeased many of her cabinet colleagues in the "anti-McConnell" camp, Ms Alexander announced that she would not be standing.

Other "rank outsiders" like Susan Deacon, Angus MacKay and Jackie Baillie refused to throw their hat into the ring and a last minute attempt by Malcolm Chisholm to muster enough support also failed.

Jack McConnell admitted to having an affair

The way was left clear for Jack McConnell to stand as the only candidate in an "affirmatory ballot" at Labour's Scottish headquarters in Glasgow.

Before he did, Mr McConnell held a hastily arranged news conference with his wife Bridget to confess that had had an extra-marital affair several years earlier.

The move was designed to avoid any damaging stories surfacing before the vote for Scottish Labour's new leader.

It was a calculated gamble but it worked. Nine days after Henry McLeish's resignation Mr McConnell was in charge of his party north of the border and a certainty to become Scotland's next first minister.

In preparation for the all-important vote by MSPs, he then held private talks with Jim Wallace to secure support from the Liberal Democrats.

'Savage cull'

This was given but it was widely believed that Mr McConnell had to agree to a timetable for introducing proportional representation in local government elections.

An announcement to this effect from the executive weeks later seemed to have borne out this theory.

On Thursday 22 November Mr McConnell faced a challenge for the first minister's position from Scottish National Party Leader John Swinney, Scottish Tory Leader David McLetchie and independent MSP Dennis Canavan.

Sarah Boyack was removed from transport

He defeated his nearest rival Mr Swinney by 46 votes and was officially sworn into office the following Tuesday in a ceremony at the Supreme Court in Edinburgh.

Any thoughts that Mr McConnell would be a similar leader to Mr McLeish were immediately dispelled when he embarked on a "savage cull" of cabinet colleagues.

Hours after being sworn in he announced that Social Justice Minister Jackie Baillie, Transport Minister Sarah Boyack, Parliament Minister Tom McCabe and Finance Minister Angus MacKay had all lost their jobs.

The Health Minister Susan Deacon was understood to have been offered the "demoted" post of social justice minister but she refused and opted to become a backbencher.

Malcolm Chisholm took over at health, Cathy Jamieson was given the education portfolio and Mike Watson took on the new brief of tourism, culture and sport.

'Ministry of toadies'

Andy Kerr was given finance and Patricia Ferguson took on the parliamentary business brief.

The moves provoked disbelief among political observers and brought swift accusations of cronyism from opposition parties.

Scots Tory leader David McLetchie said the appointments amounted to "a ministry of all the toadies".

Murray Tosh was installed as deputy presiding officer

It was not long, however, before Mr McConnell was handed his first defeat in office.

He backed Labour MSP Cathie Peattie for the post of deputy presiding officer in the Scottish Parliament but this was interpreted by some MSPs as more "cronyism".

After a secret ballot Tory MSP Murray Tosh was elected - a result that John Swinney branded a "humiliation" for Mr McConnell.

But the setback was temporary and the new first minister very quickly demonstrated that he was a very different political animal to Henry McLeish.

When trouble surfaced at Scotland's largest cancer care centre Mr McConnell and his health minister took decisive action.

Acid test

They removed day-to day running of the Beatson Oncology Centre from North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust and appoint a new boss - Dr Adam Bryson.

As we enter the New Year Mr McConnell starts from a slightly more sure-footed position than his predecessor.

But he faces the uncertainty of how those politicians, who he sent to the backbenches, will react during his future tenure in Bute House.

He will also have to ensure that his relatively inexperienced ministerial team is bedded in and performing well enough to withstand a strong challenge at the next Scottish Parliament elections.

How Scottish Labour performs in 2003 will be the real acid test of his leadership.