PM among mourners for Glenrothes MP
Gordon Brown will be among those paying tribute today to Glenrothes MP John MacDougall, whose death last week will trigger a by-election later this year.
The prime minister will put aside party politics to join with Scottish National party (SNP) leader at Westminster Angus Robertson and former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell at the private funeral in Erskine Church, Burntisland.
Cabinet ministers including international development secretary Douglas Alexander and defence secretary Des Browne are expected to attend.
They will be joined by former Labour first minister in Scotland Henry McLeish, rumoured to be his party’s candidate to replace Mr MacDougall.
Most expect the SNP to easily overturn Labour’s 29-point advantage on the 2005 election results, when Mr MacDougall took 52 per cent of the vote. They won the corresponding seat in last year’s Holyrood elections.
As a result Labour strategists are already resigned to yet another humiliating defeat for Britain’s governing party, the Telegraph newspaper reports.
It says they have already conceded defeat and are instead concentrating on how best to limit the damage of such a development to Mr Brown’s struggling premiership.
A quick by-election could push all the bad news stories for the prime minister out of the way in time for the autumn conferences.
Alternatively Labour could delay calling the Glenrothes votes until as late as mid-November, giving maximum time for events to swing the political momentum back towards Labour.
A source told the Telegraph: “We are not giving up in Glenrothes, but it is certainly realistic to view the seat as already lost to the SNP.
“If we consider ourselves as effectively already in opposition, we can begin to fight back and you never know, we could even win.”
