LABOUR'S Holyrood rebellion on Iraq was not intended as a leadership challenge against Jack McConnell but was meant to strike a blow for honest and open debate, it was claimed last night.
Susan Deacon, the former health minister, insisted her decision to table a parliamentary motion was a reflection of last weekend's mass protests and the reaction among Labour's grassroots, and was not to be seen as an attack on Mr McConnell's leadership.
The issue of war with Iraq threatens to split the Labour party and damage its performance in the Holyrood election.
Labour MSPs were drilled by Mr McConnell on the issue on Tuesday at the parliamentary party's weekly meeting in Edinburgh and a spokeswoman claimed there had been no ''disquiet'' from MSPs.
However, Ms Deacon's motion, tabled yesterday and signed by 29 MSPs, including six from the Labour benches, challenged that idea. It also called on the Scottish Parliament to recognise ''the strength of public opposition to any support for unilateral US military action against Iraq''.
It cited as evidence the mass protests that took place in Glasgow and London last Saturday, involving millions of people.
It warned that ''a pre-emptive attack on Iraq is neither necessary nor justified and would be in contravention of international law''.
Last night, Ms Deacon, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, dismissed suggestions that she was laying down a marker for a future leadership challenge if the Iraq issue led to a poor Labour showing in May.
She said: ''That is just such absolute nonsense. It is pathetic rubbish. Previous motions on this subject and other related international issues have not attracted this accusation.
''The nature of politics is that you come under fire in many circumstances, but politics should not be a popularity contest. We live in a day and age when the public has become ever more sceptical, but many of us entered politics precisely because we have view on issues of this kind.''
However, she must now face the wrath of many of her colleagues who accepted the stricture from Mr McConnell, at the tail-end of the parliamentary group meeting, that everyone should rally round the pro-war position of Tony Blair.
Ms Deacon denied she had snubbed the first minister by tabling her motion the morning after the appeal for unity.
She said she believed her motion was in touch with public opinion, but it touched a raw nerve at the parliament.
The SNP immediately backed it, as did several prominent Liberal Democrats. The LibDems then began to backtrack, in consultation with the party in London, and later tabled their own motion.
While many Labour MSPs loyal to Mr McConnell were enraged by what Ms Deacon did, she gained the support of Scott Barrie, Bill Butler, Pauline McNeill, John McAllion, Kate MacLean and Elaine Smith.
In Westminster, Conservative peers stepped up the pressure, demanding ministers give a House of Lords statement on the Iraq crisis.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article