FORMER Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont has backed Anas Sarwar to win the race to succeed Kezia Dugdale.
Sarwar is running against MSP Richard Leonard, who is close to Jeremy Corbyn, for the post of Scottish Labour leader.
But Lamont insisted the leadership battle was not a "proxy test for our loyalty to our UK leader".
Sarwar was Scottish Labour deputy leader when Lamont led the party from December 2011 to October 2014.
Scottish Labour will announce who is the winner in Glasgow on Saturday.
Lamont explained why she had voted for Sarwar, who has come under fire for sending his children to private school and his links to a family firm which does not pay all staff the Living Wage. The Glasgow MSP said she wanted to make her support public because she finds "the cartoon depiction of his character unacceptable and deeply unfair".
She said: "Anas was my deputy at a time of heightened challenges for our country and he and I worked closely as we fought to support Scotland's place in the UK and to begin the battle to win back voters to Labour's cause.
"His loyalty to me was a constant in a world of upheaval, a loyalty as certain in private as it might be on public display.
"I saw close up his energy, tenacity, clarity of thinking, I saw his politics allied to organisation that took him out on to the doors, engaging in the arguments, not just directing from the centre.
"I saw then, as I see now, someone who listens to people's concerns and understands the root causes. He seeks answers and solutions, and persists in his desire to make a difference. That is what our party needs now."
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