THE computer expert who defected from Labour to the SNP over the government's handling of the Iraq crisis was paraded at the conference yesterday before the speech by Alex Salmond.
Gordon Guthrie, a Labour candidate for Holyrood in 1999 who was on the list of those eligible to stand next year, formally signed his membership forms before taking questions from the media yesterday. Labour sources played down his involvement in upgrading the party's Elpack canvassing software and its successor, Labour.contacts, and suggested that his departure had been prompted by his realisation that his search for a seat was proving unsuccessful.
Mr Guthrie retorted: ''If I did not receive any nominations, that is news to me.'' He added: ''I may be a turncoat, but I am not a scumbag.''
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