ONE of Scotland's biggest quangos is at the centre of a cronyism row after it appointed Scottish Labour's former general secretary to a newly-created post.

City Building, an offshoot of Labour-run Glasgow City Council, recruited Lesley Quinn late last year as its first business development manager.

Labour sources told the Sunday Herald the post was not advertised openly and Quinn's selection was made by a "head hunter", then signed off by management.

Senior staff at the quango, which employs 2200 people in the construction trade and has a turnover of more than £150 million, are paid at least £50,000, according to its annual accounts.

Created in 2006 from Glasgow's building services department and known officially as City Building (Glasgow) LLP, the quango has numerous ties to Labour.

Willie Docherty, its £150,000-a-year managing director, is married to Sadie Docherty, a Glasgow Labour councillor. He is a member of the Glasgow South Labour party and an ally of Steven Purcell, the Labour leader of Glasgow City Council.

Gerry Leonard, City Building's chairman, is a Glasgow Labour councillor. Three of the four Glasgow councillors who sit on its board are Labour, while just one is SNP.

City Building also has a history of using Labour politicians in its publicity events. In January last year it trumpeted a visit by Purcell and Wendy Alexander, then-leader of Scottish Labour.

Last October, City Building staff attended the UK Labour conference in Manchester, where they met Gordon Brown, the prime minister, and his wife, Sarah.

According to City Building's website, the meeting was "to congratulate the company on their excellent promotional stand".

Brown attended another City Building event in Glasgow last month, opening its new Skills Academy in the Gorbals.

City Building will be the backdrop to yet another Labour press event tomorrow, when MSPs John Park and Margaret Curran meet apprentices at its East End training centre.

And next weekend, City Building will occupy the largest exhibition stand at the Scottish Labour conference in Dundee. It has also taken out a full-page advert in the conference brochure.

Its website contains no mention of SNP, Liberal Democrat, Conservative or Green politicians.

Quinn, from Glasgow, stepped down as Scottish Labour's general secretary last March after nine years in the post. Starting as a shorthand typist, she had worked for the party for 27 years.

One Labour source said: "Lesley Quinn's job was a new position. It was not advertised. They already have a marketing director but they created a business development director post and she got it around October."

Another source added: "I don't know what she's doing. Some of it is winning contract work down south. It's very different from what she was doing before."

Initially reliant on building and maintenance contracts from Glasgow Housing Association, City Building is currently trying to secure work from the private sector and other councils. It also supplies domestic gas services and runs Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries.

Instead of directors, the quango has two "designated members", one of which is Glasgow City Council, which is also its "ultimate parent undertaking".

The other is a council company called GCC LLP Investments Ltd.

City Building refused to answer any questions about Quinn, including when she started work, how she was appointed, her job description, her pay, the organisation's links to Labour, or its spending at the Labour conference.

Glasgow SNP MSP Bob Doris said: "This appointment raises questions as well as eyebrows considering the extent of Labour party involvement in City Building. I think we need some clarity on the circumstances of this appointment."