Falkirk West By-election 2000

'New Labour is regarded as contaminated, to use the words of Tony Blair's own pollster Philip Gould.' Mark Seddon, member of Labour's National Executive Committee, 17 th September 2000.

Swinney to take charge of Falkirk by-election

By Robbie Dinwoodie in the Herald, 10 th October 2000

During recent by-elections in Ayr and Hamilton, opponents admitted that Mr Swinney was a formidable organiser who achieved impressive results on the ground, but traditionally it has been the SNP's deputy leader who has taken charge of such campaigns.

Now Mr Swinney has decided to remain at the helm for one last tour of by-election duty, as the SNP moves this week to select a candidate for the seat which is about to fall vacant with the resignation from Westminster of Dennis Canavan.

A series of interviews will take place this week in preparation for a list of potential candidates being put before the party's national executive on Saturday. Then, a short-list of up to three candidates will be selected and sent back to the local constituency party to make a final choice.

The SNP is still working on the basis that the polling day will be in late November, as the alternative for the Government would be to hold off until next spring, taking a potentially fraught campaign too close to potential dates for the General Election from next May.

Announcing a change in the traditional roles of leader and deputy leader of the SNP, Mr Swinney said last night: "Roseanna Cunningham and I have decided that she will take forward the Westminster election preparations and I will take on the by-election.

"I am going to convene the by-election committee for Falkirk West, in order to make sure that the lessons we learned in Hamilton and Ayr are brought to the fore. This is a sensible deployment of resources and expertise this close to a Westminster General Election."

In Hamilton, the SNP started its Westminster campaign with scant organisation on the ground and ended up pushing Labour to a recount. In Ayr, the SNP surged past Labour to become the main contender to the Tories, who took the Scottish Parliament seat.

- Oct 10