 | 'The Scottish party did its bit to put its house in order but officials in London allowed the problem to fester' Graeme Wilson, in the Scotsman |  |
| 'The Scottish party did its bit to put its house in order but officials in London allowed the problem to fester' Graeme Wilson, in the Scotsman | |
Even the tragic suicide of the Paisley South MP, Gordon McMaster, appeared to offer opportunities for the ambitious former school teacher, as he is hotly tipped to be Labour's candidate in the by-election later this year.
Politics, however, have a nasty habit of tripping up those who appear to be in the ascendancy. So it has been with the former student activist and leader of Stirling District Council in recent days.
His current problems stem from the discovery of Mr McMaster's body in the garage of the Paisley South MP's home in Johnstone last month.
Within hours, reports had started to emerge of a vicious whispering campaign by members of the party against the affable MP, a claim apparently confirmed by comments in Mr McMaster's suicide note.
Since then the allegations of grubby and dishonourable behaviour have come thick and fast, with the MP for West Renfrewshire, Tommy Graham, being the main figure in the firing line.
Tony Blair's decision to dispatch his chief whip, Nick Brown, to investigate the murky affair briefly assuaged growing public anxiety.
However, within a few days concerns were being voiced that Mr Brown's remit was too limited - he can only deal with matters affecting MPs - and a growing chorus of voices demanded a broader, more comprehensive inquiry into the goings on in West Renfrewshire.
It was at this stage that Mr McConnell started to take a higher profile.
Pressed on the need for a wider investigation, he replied that if Mr Brown came up with any allegations of wrong-doing within the local party, these would be passed to the Labour's Scottish headquarters and dealt with "thoroughly and ruthlessly".
His reassurances were not enough.
Every day seemed to throw up a new story about the vendettas, personal animosities and corruption which appear to grip the party around Paisley.
It was only a matter of time before questions were asked about the effectiveness of the high-profile inquiry into allegations of vote-rigging and corruption in the Labour Party in Paisley just two years ago.
Mr McConnell and his allies argued vociferously that the Scottish party had acted decisively when it received the final report on the affair - members were expelled and local branches were suspended and restructured.
In addition, a police inquiry was launched into the operation of a local security company, FCB, which had close links to the Labour Party in the area.
While Nick Brown is understood to broadly agree with Mr McConnell on this point, the doubts did not go away.
If the clean-up was so effective, why was Labour immersed in a new scandal just two years later, political commentators and people in Paisley asked.
At the weekend the dam wall finally gave way and Mr McConnell found himself washed helplessly into the full glare of the media.
On Saturday The Scotsman revealed that members of the Scottish executive believed his job was on the line because of his failure to snuff out the difficulties in Paisley two years ago.
The next day our sister paper, Scotland on Sunday, revealed that Mr McConnell was officially listed as one of Tommy Graham's Commons researchers around the time of the last inquiry into Paisley.
Mr McConnell's friends quickly rallied round to defend their man. He had indeed used one of Mr Graham's spare passes, but only for a year between 1993 and 1994 - the Paisley inquiry started a year later.
Such arrangements were fairly routine, they insist, and the use of the pass had actually been arranged by Mr McMaster, who was the Scottish whip at the time.
In an extraordinary move, they also tried to shake off the blame for events in Renfrewshire by blaming the party's whips in London for "sitting on" damaging sections of the report which referred to the conduct of Mr Graham.
Their argument was simple but devastating for party unity - the Scottish party did its bit to put its house in order but officials in London allowed the problem to fester.
In addition, they demanded that Mr Brown should discipline Mr Graham immediately, even though senior party sources in London were - at the same time - trying to kill off mounting speculation about the inquiry's result.
Perhaps wisely, Mr McConnell has kept a low profile as claims and counter-claims have been exchanged.
However, it is clear that he is doggedly sticking by his argument that the Scottish party did all that it could to sort out the problems in Paisley two years ago and cannot be blamed for events in recent weeks.
Like everyone else, he will now have to wait to see if Mr Brown's inquiry reaches the same conclusion.
If it does not, Mr McConnell's promising political career will face its toughest test yet.
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