SNP favourite withdraws from race

The frontrunner to be the SNP's candidate in the Glasgow North East by-election has withdrawn at the 11th hour.

Despite previously stating he would put himself forward, Glasgow councillor Grant Thoms has now told party bosses he will not run after all.

The unexpected decision leaves the SNP scrabbling for a candidate ahead of a selection meeting due next week.

Labour is expected to name Willie Bain, a 36-year-old law lecturer, as its candidate on Monday in readiness for a snap contest.

Thoms was known to have been worried that his "Tartan Hero" blog, which often dealt in religious and gay rights issues, would return to haunt him and had removed it from the internet - but traces had been retrieved by his opponents.

Labour also planned to attack Thoms over his perceived lack of support for Catholic schools.

Last night, however, he insisted he simply preferred to remain a councillor. He said: "It is a role I love. I feel I have work still to do in that role and therefore want to continue with it."

The situation has strong echoes of last year's Glasgow East by-election, when the likely Labour candidate, councillor George Ryan, withdrew hours before a selection meeting.

Labour's campaign was plunged into chaos and its 13,500 majority was overturned by the SNP.

Frances Curran, the former MSP, is likely to be the candidate for the Scottish Socialist Party when activists make their choice on July 2.

The by-election has been caused by the retirement of former Commons Speaker Michael Martin in the wake of the MPs expenses scandal.

The ballot could be as early as July 23, although local Labour activists have lobbied the party in London for a longer campaign, with August 27 suggested instead.

Locals believe a long fight will draw the sting from a row over the closure of four primary schools in the constituency - an issue the Nationalists had planned to highlight in their campaign.

By waiting until classes restart in the autumn and parents see their children's new schools, Labour hope the issue can be sidelined.

With Bain's position strengthening, councillor Gordon Matheson, who had been considering a bid, has now withdrawn from the Labour race.

Graeme Pearson, former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, has also backed away.

Still expressing an interest in the Labour candidacy is Dr Zasheem Ahmed, 55, an economist and chair of the Nazrul-Burns arts centre.

The Herald