The 2008 Scottish Labour Party leadership election was an internal party election to choose a new leader of the
Labour Party in the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
, and was triggered following the
resignation
Resignation is the formal act of relinquishing or vacating one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or ...
of
Wendy Alexander
Wendy Cowan Alexander, Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (born 27 June 1963) is a retired Scottish politician and the former Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Paisley North. She held various Scottish Government cabinet posts and was the ...
following a row over donations to her own leadership campaign in 2007.
Iain Gray
Iain Cumming Gray (born 7 June 1957) is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2008 to 2011. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the East Lothian constituency from 2007 to 2021, having p ...
won the contest and was announced as leader on 13 September 2008.
It was the second Scottish Labour leadership election in as many years, the first being caused by the resignation of
Jack McConnell
Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as first minister of Scotland and leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister f ...
, following the
Scottish National Party's victory over Labour in the
2007 Scottish Parliament election
The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. 2007 Scottish local elections, ...
, however in this election, Alexander was unopposed, meaning that no ballot actually took place.
The timetable for the election was finalised on Monday 28 July, having been put on hold for a month to allow the party to focus on the
Glasgow East by-election,
which ultimately saw the
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...
overturn a 13,507 Labour majority to gain the seat.
Nominations closed at noon on Friday 1 August with the result being declared on Saturday 13 September.
A
deputy leadership election was held alongside the leadership election following the resignation of
Cathy Jamieson
Catherine Mary Jamieson (born 3 November 1956) is a Scottish business director, currently a director at Kilmarnock Football Club and former politician. She served as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2000 to 2008. She pr ...
on 28 July.
Johann Lamont
Johann MacDougall Lamont (; born 11 July 1957) is a Scottish Labour Co-operative politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2011 to 2014. She was previously a junior Scottish Executive minister from 2004 to 2007 and De ...
was elected deputy leader.
Successfully nominated candidates
*
Iain Gray
Iain Cumming Gray (born 7 June 1957) is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2008 to 2011. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the East Lothian constituency from 2007 to 2021, having p ...
— 13 nominations
*
Cathy Jamieson
Catherine Mary Jamieson (born 3 November 1956) is a Scottish business director, currently a director at Kilmarnock Football Club and former politician. She served as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2000 to 2008. She pr ...
— 12 nominations
*
Andy Kerr — 10 nominations
Source
Scottish Labour
/small>
All three declared candidates received more than five nominations from MSPs, which was the minimum requirement for them to get onto the ballot paper by the close of nominations at 12:00 UTC+1 on 1 August 2008
Nominations
Candidates are initially nominated by their parliamentary colleagues from within the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
, following which Westminster
MPs, constituency Labour parties and affiliated trade union organisation can submit 'supporting nominations', providing their backing to a specific candidates. These nominations can be seen in the tables below;
Result
The election took place using
Alternative Vote
Instant-runoff voting (IRV; ranked-choice voting (RCV), preferential voting, alternative vote) is a single-winner ranked voting election system where one or more eliminations are used to simulate runoff elections. When no candidate has a ...
in an electoral college, with a third of the votes allocated to Labour's MSPs, Scottish MPs and Scottish MEPs, a third to individual members of the Scottish Labour Party, and a third to individual members of affiliated organisations, mainly trade unions.
In order to be elected, one candidate must have achieved a majority of votes, i.e. 50% plus 1 vote.
Round 1
Round 2
Source
The Citizen: Campaigning for Socialism
/small>
Suggested candidates not standing
The following either publicly suggested they were considering standing for election or received media speculation to that effect. However, at the close of nominations they had not been nominated by any MSPs.
*
Charlie Gordon
*
Tom McCabe
Thomas McCabe (28 April 1954 – 19 April 2015) was a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Parliament from 1999 to 2001 and Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, he ...
*
Margaret Curran
Margaret Patricia Curran, Baroness Curran (born 24 November 1958), is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She served in the House of Commons as the member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow East from 2010 and 2015, and was Shadow Secretary of S ...
.
Curran was considered to be a probable candidate; however, Curran subsequently stood in and lost the
Glasgow East by-election on 24 July, raising questions over any leadership ambitions.
Later stated she supported Gray.
*
Ken Macintosh
Kenneth Donald Macintosh (born 15 January 1962) is a Scottish politician who served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021. Elected as a member of Scottish Labour, he suspended his party membership on becoming Pr ...
.
Macintosh nominated Andy Kerr on 31 July.
Timeline of events
See also
*
2008 Scottish Labour Party deputy leadership election
References
{{Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Labour leadership election
2000s elections in Scotland
Scottish Labour leadership election
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
Scottish Labour leadership election