Labour sneak new East Lothian candidate in on Palace day

So, is the East Lothian Labour Party versus Anne Moffat MP saga finally over?

Anne Moffat MP and Iain Gray MSP traded insults and counter insults over recent weeks.

Anne Moffat MP threatened legal action, where is that now?   Maybe more to come?

Then yesterday amongst all of the razzmattazz of the election being announced a smaller announcement was sneaked out by the Labour Party in Scotland that Fiona O'Donnell had been selected as the new candidate.

Over on the BBC, Fiona is described as;

The 50-year-old mother-of-four was previously a campaign specialist with the Labour Party based in the Lothians.

Which means in plain speak; The 50 year old mother of four children used to work (paid or unpaid) for the Labour Party in the Lothians (probably Edinburgh) and lives elsewhere.

Fine, no problems there for the local party then, one assumes?

So, the battle on May 6th in East Lothian is between Fiona and Stuart Ritchie, the Liberal Democrat candidate as it is we who are in second place here.

Labour seek new MP for East Lothian as Anne Moffat MP's appeal fails

So, Anne Moffat MP will not be joining her colleagues back on the green benches after May 6.

Anne Moffat MP appealed to Labour's NEC following Friday's Constituency Labour Party vote to de-select her, Anne lost the vote by 130 votes to 59.  You can read more about this here or here.

We now learn that Anne Moffat's appeal has failed.

Labour will now start seeking a new candidate just weeks away from the expected General Election.

Over on the BBC website;

Ms Moffat lodged an appeal and said the process had been unfair because many of her supporters wanted a postal ballot.

Labour are not ruling out enforcing an all women shortlist in East Lothian in the race to to replace Anne Moffat, although given the average selection battle for Labour has taken four or five weeks and they only have two to three to complete this one - will there be a Labour candidate at all on the ballot paper?

Labour are all over the place here in Scotland with a number of their MPs standing down and the in-fighting in East Lothian leading to Anne Moffat MP's de-selection, it is time for change, real change that works for you.

It is time for Stuart Ritchie and the Liberal Democrats in East Lothian.

The East Lothian question - Should Anne Moffat stay?

2009 was a long year for crisis hit Anne Moffat, the Labour MP for East Lothian, where the Liberal Democrats are second and where Labour's Scottish leader, Iain Gray's Scottish Parliament's seat is.

Moffat's re-selection as the MP started back in 2008 and still the saga goes on and on and on.

In the latest twist Labour's ruling body, the NEC, will have the final say on Moffat's re-selection, but has now allowed a full meeting of the local party membership enabling members to vote on the issue in the next few days.

It appears that the NEC will announce Ane Moffat's de-selection if that is how the vote goes.

Over at the BBC:

A Labour spokeswoman said: "The NEC considered the request from the general committee to hold a special meeting to consider whether Anne Moffat should be the Labour candidate.


"Due to the nature of the circumstances, the NEC agreed with this request and so an all-member meeting will shortly be held to allow all members in East Lothian to attend and decide the best way forward."

Considering I have only been in Scotland since 31st May 2008, Anne Moffat has been involved in scandal after scandal with some very dubious questions left hanging over some incidents, to which the answers have never really appeared.

Her future as an MP is one very such question, will Anne Moffat's name be on the ballot paper come polling day?  If so, will it be on the ballot paper for voters in East Lothian?

Or will voters get the choice to vote for Anne Moffat the crisis hit MP seeking re-election or second placed Liberal Democrats candidate Stuart Ritchie?