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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Anas Sarwar rules out Scottish Labour leadership bid | Anas Sarwar rules out Scottish Labour leadership bid |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, has ruled himself out as a candidate to take over running the party after the sudden resignation of Johann Lamont last week. | Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, has ruled himself out as a candidate to take over running the party after the sudden resignation of Johann Lamont last week. |
| Sarwar said he intended to focus on being the interim leader during the short contest to find Lamont’s replacement, further clearing the way for the favourite candidate, Jim Murphy, shadow international development secretary, to take over. | Sarwar said he intended to focus on being the interim leader during the short contest to find Lamont’s replacement, further clearing the way for the favourite candidate, Jim Murphy, shadow international development secretary, to take over. |
| Jackie Baillie, the shadow health secretary, has confirmed she will not be standing either, further reducing the field of serious potential candidates. | Jackie Baillie, the shadow health secretary, has confirmed she will not be standing either, further reducing the field of serious potential candidates. |
| One of Sarwar’s close aides said Sarwar, who was never likely to command majority support for the post, was concerned about the significant political challenges and policy workload faced by Labour. | One of Sarwar’s close aides said Sarwar, who was never likely to command majority support for the post, was concerned about the significant political challenges and policy workload faced by Labour. |
| The party will see Nicola Sturgeon take over as first minister, and Lord Smith’s commission on devolution publish a key heads-of-agreement document on more powers for Holyrood before Lamont’s successor is installed. | |
| “He’s determined to see the process through, to get a new leader as soon as possible and he’s also determined we don’t lose sight of the politics,” the aide said. | |
| Standing as party leader would mean vacating the interim leader role at a critical time. “We need a steady hand on the tiller to expose Nicola Sturgeon for her failings and ensure we get the right result for Scotland,” the aide added. | Standing as party leader would mean vacating the interim leader role at a critical time. “We need a steady hand on the tiller to expose Nicola Sturgeon for her failings and ensure we get the right result for Scotland,” the aide added. |
| Baillie, who said she would rather play a supporting role and knew where her strengths and weaknesses lay, distanced herself from Lamont’s criticism of Ed Miliband’s leadership of the party, playing down fears at Holyrood that having an MP as party leader, rather than an MSP, would weaken its standing in Scotland. | Baillie, who said she would rather play a supporting role and knew where her strengths and weaknesses lay, distanced herself from Lamont’s criticism of Ed Miliband’s leadership of the party, playing down fears at Holyrood that having an MP as party leader, rather than an MSP, would weaken its standing in Scotland. |
| Interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland, Baillie said she had no objections to an MP running as Scottish leader. Rejecting Lamont’s complaint that the Scottish party was treated like a “branch office” of the UK party, Baillie said the Holyrood and Westminster parties were “absolutely joined at the hip in wanting the best that we can”. | Interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland, Baillie said she had no objections to an MP running as Scottish leader. Rejecting Lamont’s complaint that the Scottish party was treated like a “branch office” of the UK party, Baillie said the Holyrood and Westminster parties were “absolutely joined at the hip in wanting the best that we can”. |
| She dismissed Lamont’s claims that she stood down partly because Miliband had ordered Lamont to stop attacking the bedroom tax. Baillie said Scottish Labour had run a vigorous and sustained campaign on the bedroom tax at Holyrood without interference. | |
| Meanwhile, two other MSPs mooted as potential candidates, the education spokeswoman, Kezia Dugdale, and Jenny Marra, Labour’s deputy finance and youth employment spokeswoman, have also ruled themselves out. | Meanwhile, two other MSPs mooted as potential candidates, the education spokeswoman, Kezia Dugdale, and Jenny Marra, Labour’s deputy finance and youth employment spokeswoman, have also ruled themselves out. |
| A strongly tipped centre-left candidate, Neil Findlay, has not ruled himself out but is calling for Gordon Brown, the former party leader and prime minister, to put himself forward – a step emphatically rejected over the weekend by Brown’s aides. |