 | 'This by-election was decided more on local issues than national issues and there were some major issues to talk about - tolls on the Forth Road Bridge, the state of Dunfermline town centre and the future of a local hospital. But oddly enough, all these issues are devolved to the Scottish Executive, and the irony of the result is that the Lib Dems - who are in partnership with Labour in Edinburgh - got none of the blame and all the protest vote.' Angus Macleod in the Times, 10 th February 2006. |  |
If Gordon Brown wants to buff up his reputation with the voters of Dunfermline and Fife after last night's by-election setback, then maybe he should keep some time free for the last Saturday in June.
That's the day when 30 fit or plain foolhardy men will lug 50kg bags of coal through the streets of Kelty in the Scottish Coal-Carrying Championships.
So far no MP has been brave enough to enter the competition, which in terms of global prestige is second only to the World Coal-Carrying Championships run at Gawthorpe in Yorkshire on Easter Monday.
But Michael Boyle, the race organiser, is confident that he can persuade the constituency's new MP, the Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie, to take part this year and says that Mr Brown still has a few months to train if he wants to "take up the mantle" and line up beside him.
It's an invitation that the Iron Chancellor should treat with some caution, and not just because Mr Rennie has already inflicted one of the most humiliating defeats of Mr Brown's career with the 16 per cent swing from Labour that won him Dunfermline and West Fife, which includes the former mining village of Kelty.
In fact, Mr Rennie already has coal-carrying form. The 38-year-old Lib Dem, who lives in Kelty, entered the race once before, back in 2003, and showed clear potential.
Mr Boyle said that competitors in the race rarely produce a great result on their first showing, but Mr Rennie covered the 1,000-metre course in five minutes and 57 seconds with the hundredweight bag of coal slung over his shoulders. It was a full minute and a half behind the six-times champion William Hargreaves, but enough to win him second place in a competitive field.
"It was Bill's first ever shot and he showed a lot of promise," Mr Boyle told Times Online. "Most people are rubbish for their first three years or so - they're just too stiff."
"I would welcome the fact that an MP would take part in the race," he added. "And we expect Gordon Brown to take up the mantle and run against him next year."
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