 | 'I was told even before the elections to the Scottish parliament last year that some people at a very senior level in the party had come to the conclusion the selection system of candidates was fundamentally flawed. I was told the party had also received legal advice that the selection system was so flawed and indeed such a shambles that it would not stand up to any challenge in court.' Dennis Canavan, 21 st November 2000 |  |
Senior party officials said he was not telling the truth about his reasons for withdrawing his application for readmission.
Gordon Brown also emphatically distanced himself from Mr Canavan's allegations about differences between the chancellor and the prime minister.
Mr Canavan pressed on with his resignation as an MP after more than 25 years in the Commons, but Labour challenged his claim that Mr Blair had personally blocked his selection and had refused to act on legal advice that Labour's selection methods were "fundamentally flawed".
A spokesman for the prime minister denied Tony Blair ever had any doubts over the Scottish selection process.
Asked if Mr Blair had ever been told that the process was flawed, his spokesman said: "No, absolutely not. The prime minister is absolutely rigorous about taking legal advice. There was no legal advice before the selection process or before the Scottish selections suggesting any kind of flaws whatever."
The reasons for the row between Mr Canavan and Labour now seem increasingly academic as all the political parties in Scotland prepare for a titanic by-election battle in Falkirk West.
With voters going to the polls in Glasgow Anniesland tomorrow to elect replacements at Westminster and Holyrood for the late first minister, Donald Dewar, the SNP and Labour are squaring up for the contest in Falkirk West, probably early in the new year.
A senior Labour figure told The Herald yesterday, before Mr Canavan's latest allegations, that the MP had sought a public apology from Labour but had been told that was not possible.
But the delicate process which was meant to end with him being given back his party card ended in acrimony and disillusionment for Mr Canavan after he concluded the real cause of his exclusion from the candidate's list was the opposition of the prime minister himself.
Labour moved quickly to discredit Mr Canavan's side of the story after hearing Mr Blair was in the MP's sights. But Mr Canavan had himself to face a hard news conference where his judgment was questioned and credibility challenged after his second U-turn in a couple of weeks.
He denied being naive and manipulative and admitted he was unable to produce written evidence to back his claim that Mr Blair was responsible for his troubles.
But he insisted he had learned 10 days before from a "very authoritative source" that Labour had excluded him despite having been legally advised that the selection procedure was "fundamentally flawed".
He complained: "I was told even before the elections to the Scottish parliament last year that some people at a very senior level in the party had come to the conclusion the selection system of candidates was fundamentally flawed.
"I was told the party had also received legal advice that the selection system was so flawed and indeed such a shambles that it would not stand up to any challenge in court.
"That concern was reported to party HQ in London and also to the prime minister's office but nothing was done about it. They decided to carry on regardless defending the indefensible and in my case to continue sending out negative press briefings to try to discredit me."
He said: "I have no confidence in people like that and no confidence in the Labour leadership. I therefore do not want to join the Labour Party under the present leadership."
The fact that the issue had gone to Mr Blair's office indicated his role in the affair, Mr Canavan said.
This news was "fresh and very compelling" evidence that those responsible for the selection system were not just a "small cabal and less than a handful of control freaks" in Scotland, as he had previously thought. This now indicated there was "involvement at the very top, too".
Mr Canavan at first said he would probably never rejoin Labour after this but later qualified that to say "under the present leadership" which had been trying to orchestrate his non-selection.
He said Henry McLeish, First Minister, was not to blame for his decision and added he would not implicate his "old friend" Gordon Brown, leaving Mr Blair as his target.
Even a personal apology from Mr Blair would not make him change his decision, he said, adding: "I doubt it would be genuine." Mr Canavan had "reflected deeply" after learning of the legal advice to Labour and consulted with constituents, close friends and colleagues before concluding his recent talks with Labour were just a "desperate attempt" to stop a by-election.
He refused to endorse any candidate in a Falkirk West by-election but did not rule out doing so later.
Mr Brown yesterday gave the green light to a chief aide to deny Mr Canavan's accusation that there was any difference between him and the prime minister over the selection system. The treasury aide said: "The idea that there was any difference between the chancellor and the prime minister on this is completely untrue and as the party have made clear Mr Canavan is wrong to say the party received legal advice saying the process was flawed."
Mr Canavan's allegations came as music to the ears of the SNP which claimed it would boost its showing in the Anniesland by-elections and give Nationalists a springboard for seizing Falkirk West. John Swinney, SNP leader said: "This whole mess shows that Tony Blair and London Labour can't be trusted in Scotland."
-Nov 22nd
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