Labour in bitter blame game

LABOUR was embroiled last night in its most divisive bout of in-fighting for years, as the Westminster party tried to pin the Dunfermline by-election defeat on Jack McConnell.

While the Scottish Secretary, Alistair Darling, took public responsibility for the failed campaign, behind the scenes Labour MPs launched stinging attacks on the First Minister, saying his "pathetic" interference had crippled the party's chances and allowed the Liberal Democrats to record a stunning victory.

"What the hell did Jack think he was doing?" demanded one MP, who pointed at Mr McConnell's failure to take an early decision on the Forth Road Bridge tolls despite determined attempts by Gordon Brown to "bounce" him into it.

Other divisions soon emerged: Blairites questioned Gordon Brown's fitness to lead the party when he could not deliver a victory in his own backyard, while Brownites attacked the Defence Secretary, John Reid, for his apparent failure to turn up to a campaign engagement at Rosyth dockyard last week.

The backbiting started soon after the result. The Liberal Democrats had overturned an 11,500 Labour majority and won by 1,800 votes - their first Scottish by-election triumph over Labour for nearly a century.

As the Lib Dems cheered, Catherine Stihler, the Labour candidate, fled the count in shock, shielded by Labour minders.

By yesterday morning, she had regained something of her composure and appeared in public with Mr Darling to try to explain what had gone wrong.

The Scotsman