 | 'For years the Labour HQ have virtually ignored Falkirk West because they considered it to be a safe Labour seat. Now they are having to treat it as a marginal because of their crass mishandling of the selection process.' Dennis Canavan MP, 5 th January 1999. |  |
But this was Falkirk High Street. The town's two constituencies had Labour majorities of more than 13,000 at the General Election amid swings away from the SNP. And polling day wasn't next week or next month. It was exactly four months away.
Mo Mowlam may have cut a dash for the punters and courted evident popularity in the lashing rain outside What Everyone Wants yesterday, and Donald Dewar, the Scottish Secretary, may have got a few warm handshakes against the damp chill of an early January afternoon. Scottish New Labour was busting a gut to put on show candidates Ross Martin in Falkirk West and and Cathie Peattie in Falkirk East.
But to the obvious question, that Scottish New Labour had holed itself below the waterline in its dreadful selection debacle in Falkirk West and all hands were now pumping frantically, there was resolute denial.
There was, instead, the name on no-one's lips but everyone's mind, Dennis Canavan, MP for the area for quarter of a century, but deemed to be not quite up to standard for the Scottish Parliament for which he had spent those years campaigning.
He was even denied the standard protocol of being informed of the visit of Cabinet Ministers to his constituency. Mr Dewar explained that his presence would have been "inappropriate".
But Mr Canavan thought he knew what was happening. "For years the Labour HQ have virtually ignored Falkirk West because they considered it to be a safe Labour seat. Now they are having to treat it as a marginal because of their crass mishandling of the selection process.
"I think that by hiring a full-time organiser and opening a campaign office in Falkirk, the Labour Party HQ seems prepared to spend thousands of pounds in a desperate attempt to defeat me. However, the people of Falkirk West will see through all this and show that their votes cannot be bought."
Even on the streets there was reticence, as if it would have offended the Gods of Celebrity to mention some local difficulty during such a visitation by anyone recognisable from the television.
Hence much uttering of: "Is that not that Northern Ireland wummin?" or less often: "Is that not Donald Dewar?"
So Dr Mowlam showed her exemplary skills at stonewalling, but in effect insulted her media questioners by pretending not to understand the fuss about Mr Canavan, the only reason she was here.
She deigned even to express sadness that she was now effectively campaigning against a long-standing Parliamentary colleague.
Dr Mowlam, who later met members of the Scottish Parliament Constitutional Steering Group in Glasgow, said not one person on the street in Falkirk mentioned Mr Canavan. Mr Dewar said only one mentioned him and was staying loyal to Labour anyway.
The reporter from the Falkirk Herald pointed out that their poll showed 80% of Canavan voters planning to stay loyal to their MP.
Yesterday's events were a still greater confirmation of the potency of his threat - all-out campaigning four months before polling day. - Jan 6
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