Baptism of fire for Alexander: MSPs unhappy as posts reserved for inner circle; spin doctor to resign, strategist criticised

WENDY Alexander is facing her first crisis as Scottish Labour leader after several senior party figures expres-sed doubts about her leadership skills.

A number of her MSPs believe they have been excluded from her team at the expense of a "wee clique" of supporters.

Brian Lironi, the party's head of communications, is also likely to resign this week following clashes with the new leader and her allies.

Her problems are set to continue after one of her new advisers, Mike Elrick, was revealed to have made a savage attack on what he described as the "cynical and arrogant" Labour government.

Alexander's first week in charge was marked by internal staffing difficulties and a mixed debut at First Minister's Question Time. The Sunday Herald has learned that several Labour MSPs are already unhappy about Alexander's leadership, in particular her reliance on a small group of people for advice.

One MSP said: "Wendy's had a disastrous first week in charge. The party's more split than I can remember."

Another said: "Wendy said she'd changed. She said motherhood and marriage had made her a more sympathetic person. That's bollocks."

Alexander's difficulties will become apparent this week when Lironi, the party's top spin doctor, resigns after working with her for just over a week.

Lironi, an award-winning journalist, was headhunted by the party two months ago for the high-profile post. But the Sunday Herald understands he became disillusioned after his job description changed when Alexander succeeded the former first minister, Jack McConnell, earlier this month.

Lironi was also said to have become weary at Alexander's "around-the-clock, seven-days-a-week" demands. It is also understood he had difficulties with other members of her inner circle.

Lironi was then incensed when, as revealed in the Sunday Herald last week, Labour MSP George Foulkes described him as an "idiot".

He subsequently signed off on sick leave and has since decided he has no future as the party's head of communications.

A senior party source said: "Foulkes' comments were disgraceful. He is one of Brian's employers and to attack him the way he did was reckless and stupid.

"But what made things worse was Wendy's failure to sort the problem out. It's typical of her thoughtlessness."

Another MSP said: "When Wendy was on tour, building support, she was interested in playing the team game. Now she's in the job, she's shut herself away with a wee clique and the rest of us are left out."

In 2001, when Alexander was enterprise minister, her press spokesman Andrew Baird asked to be moved after repeatedly clashing with her.

Alexander now faces further staff problems after it emerged one of her new strategists had made a number of criticisms of the Labour government.

Mike Elrick, formerly special adviser to John Reid, quit the party in 2002, saying: "I realised that this was not the Labour Party I had joined, that something had changed over the intervening years. There was now a cynicism and arrogance which I had never encountered before."

He said he "tore up" his party card "in disgust", before adding: "A government which came to power on a tide of optimism, promising so much, has in many ways treated its own party members and the wider public with growing contempt."

An SNP spokesman said: "Wendy is the architect of her own woes. We'll get on with government - Wendy is doing a good job of undermining Labour all by herself."

But a Labour spokesman said: "Wendy Alexander has undertaken a wide-ranging tour of Scotland, listening to and engaging with people across the country, hitting the ground running. Any suggestion to the contrary is just wrong."