SARAH Boyack, the former transport minister, has announced she will stand for the Scottish Labour leadership, as sources indicated Jim Murphy was likely to throw his hat in the ring tomorrow.
Lothians MSP Ms Boyack became the first candidate in the contest to replace Johann Lamont yesterday with a call for the party re-engage with communities across Scotland.
Her candidacy took colleagues at Holyrood by surprise.
It came as East Renfrewshire MP Mr Murphy continued to assemble a leadership campaign behind the scenes.
Sources suggested he was likely to announce his leadership bid tomorrow, before Labour's annual fundraising gala dinner in Glasgow, which will be attended by leader Ed Miliband.
The shadow international development secretary is expected to stage a formal launch event in the coming days.
Neil Findlay MSP, Labour's health spokesman, continued to come under pressure to stand from friends on the left of the party.
He had previously urged Gordon Brown to stand but has refused to rule himself out of the running since the former Prime Minister moved to dismiss talk of a possible leadership bid.
He declined to reveal his plans yesterday. Friends of Kezia Dugdale, Labour's education spokeswoman, said she was keen to stand for deputy leader if a vacancy arose.
Their comments piled further pressure on Anas Sarwar to step aside as deputy leader to give the party a wider choice of leadership team.
One MP said: "People now expect there to be a man and a woman at the top of the party."
Lothians MSP Ms Dugdale has a plan for the deputy leader's job, which would include facing Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister's Questions each week if Labour elected an MP as leader, friends said.
Ms Boyack, who as transport minister in the first Holyrood parliament introduced free bus travel for over-60s, said: "In the next 18 months we face two electoral tests; to return Labour Governments to power in both the UK and Scottish Parliaments.
"These will be watershed elections. This leadership election will set the tone for those contests."
Opponents dismissed her chances of victory, claiming her bid was designed to raise her profile and push her up the party's regional list of candidates, in case she fails to regain the Edinburgh seat she lost in 2011.
Mr Murphy's supporters said his election would herald a "new era" for Scottish Labour.
He attended Shadow Cabinet yesterday and had a "friendly" tete a tete with Mr Miliband.
Their relationship has previously been strained with insiders suggesting Mr Miliband had initially wanted Mr Brown to take charge of the Scottish party.
Sources close to the former Prime Minister were making it abundantly clear the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP has no desire to return to frontline politics.
However, senior Labour figures are still hoping he can be persuaded to throw his hat in the ring at the 11th hour. "Everyone wants Gordon to stand," declared one MP.
"There is still time but it now seems doubtful," he added.
Mr Murphy has remained silent in the last few days, waiting to see if Mr Brown would enter the race and preparing his own campaign launch, including his policy manifesto.
Yesterday, the frontbencher was said to have been "hitting the phones", persuading colleagues at Westminster and Holyrood to back him when he launches his bid in central Glasgow.
One supporter claimed that the ex-Scottish Secretary's election would provide a much-needed Labour policy debate to breath new life into the party north of the Border and provide a platform of ideas going into the 2015 General Election.
The deadline for candidates to come forward is Friday. Labour will announce its new leader on December 13.
The contest was sparked by the resignation of Ms Lamont on Friday, who accused the UK party of treating Scottish Labour as a "branch office". Arriving for a meeting of Labour MSPs at Holyrood, she said: "I loved leading the Scottish Labour Party but we are now in a different place.
"We are in the middle of a leadership contest and I will support whoever comes out of that contest.
"I look forward to ongoing debate inside the party, but also across Scotland, about what the post-referendum Scotland looks like, and I will certainly be part of that too.
"Now is the opportunity to have the debate across the party about what our party looks like."
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