Labour In Glasgow

By Ian Stewart

As I said in the introduction to this section, the Labour Party have effectively controlled local government in Glasgow, and several of the other Councils in the West of Scotland, for eighty years and, that in such a situation, nepotism and corruption tend to creep into the system.

Eventually it reaches the point where, rather than it being a case of, 'Let Glasgow Flourish' (which is the motto on the city's coat of arms), it becomes the 'Cooncillors' themselves and their army of appointed 'High Heid Yins' and 'Hangers On' who do so.

The recent scandal involving executives of SPT (Strathclyde Partnership for Transport) is one example. When this story initially 'broke', it appeared to be just another case of abuse of public funding. However, within less than a month, there were a string of resignations, culminating in that of Steven Purcell, the Labour Leader of Glasgow City Council.

The Sunday Times had asked, under the Freedom of Information Act, in July 2009 to make public the expenses claimed by all SPT senior officials since 2006. The request also asked how much was spent by executives on overseas trips outside of Europe and the cost of staff events held in Glasgow and East Kilbride. The public body, which receives an annual budget of about £47m, refused to provide all the information requested on the grounds of cost. 'In this case the cost to be charged would be £7,739. However, should you wish to narrow the remit of your application, SPT would be pleased to reconsider', it stated in its response. Only after the matter was referred to Kevin Dunion, the information commissioner, did the SPT finally agree to publish details of trips in the UK and abroad, including money spent on travel, hotels and food. The documents were released in January 2010.

These showed that, on their trips they stayed in some of the world's most luxurious hotels, including the five-star Parco dei Principi in Rome, the art deco Imperial hotel in Prague and the Algonquin in New York. On most trips the officials appear to have flown first class.

Graeme Hendry, a Glasgow Councillor (SNP) has now requested that Audit Scotland investigate these expenses. The public-spending watchdog is being urged to examine claims submitted over the three year period totalling £117,573, including £49,195 incurred on overseas trips to destinations including China, India, Italy, Singapore, Russia, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic and the United States by a handful of top officials.

SPTE (Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive) was the transport wing of the old Strathclyde Regional Council and wa responsible for services within Strathclyde Region. When a new agency, Transport Scotland, was set up in 2006, many of its powers were transferred to the new body and it was re-named, rather confusingly, as SPT (Strathclyde Partnership for Transport).

SPT is the country's biggest transport quango but now seems only to be responsible for the Glasgow Underground, two Clyde ferries, Kilcreggan - Helensburgh - Gourock (operated on behalf of SPT by Clyde Marine Services Ltd.) and Renfrew - Yoker (due to close in March), a fleet of 68 buses (January 2010), the maintenance of bus stops and bus shelters, three bus stations, the management of school bus services for eleven local councils and allocation of subsidies for 130 bus routes (almost all of which are operated by private companies). Effectively an administrative function for the management of subsidies for local transport.

Within a few weeks of the release of the documents, the resignations started . . .

Alistair Watson, SPT Chairman and a Labour Councillor (Glasgow), was the first, resigning on Monday 15th February. He had claimed £10,756 for 21,818 miles over the 2006-09 period

On Thursday 18th February, David McLachlan, SPT Vice-chairman and a Labour Councillor (South Lanarkshire) followed. He'd claimed £17,544 for travelling 35,650 miles. Equivalent to travelling almost one-and-a-half times around the world.

On the same date, Ron Culley, the SPT Chief Executive (£129,000-a-year) also resigned.

But worse was to follow . . .

On the 1st March, the Leader of Glasgow City Council, Stephen Purcell, resigned 'due to stress'. He has now been replaced by the Deputy Leader, Jim Coleman, who in February of 2009, was involved in controversy after the executive committee of which he was Acting Chairman nodded through a £1 million contract to the Wise Group rather than Apex Scotland, who had previously been running the training scheme. Mr Coleman sits on the board of the Wise Group !

Stephen Purcell had been regarded as one of the rising stars in Scottish Labour. He had joined the movement at the age of 14, was elected to the council in May 1995 at the age of 23 and became Leader of Glasgow City Council in May 2005 at the age of 32. He had had been widely tipped as a future leader of the party in Scotland.

As Harold Wilson once said, 'A week is a long time in politics'

Thursday 25th February - Purcell attended a Labour party fundraiser at Glasgow's Hilton Hotel with PM Gordon Brown.

Friday 26th February - He cancelled an appointment with Charan Gill MBE, founder of Harlequin Restaurants, then told colleagues he wanted to quit as Leader.

Saturday 27th February - He's visited at home by his advisers concerned about his erratic behaviour. Vodafone had blocked his number and contacted the council complaining that Purcell had abused call centre staff and he had been found in tears and talking nonsense at his desk.

Sunday 28th February - He's driven to Castle Craig Hospital in Peebles, which specialises in treating drink and drug problems. He goes missing from the clinic, sparking a police search, but later returns. His clothes are soaking wet and there was some speculation as to whether he attempted to kill himself in open water. A subsequent statement from his lawyer denied this.

Monday 1st March - The internet is rife with rumours about Purcell and he unexpectedly resigns as Council Leader after hiring two high profile companies to represent him.

Jack Irvine, founder and Executive Chairman of the media relations firm, Media House International who claims he is 'stressed'. Irvine had previously held senior editorial and management positions in Mirror Group and News International including that of Editor and CEO.

Peter Watson, a lawyer from the Glasgow firm of Levy and MacRae. Among L&M's many high-profile clients are Newsquest, owners of the Herald and Sunday Herald, Scottish & Universal Newspapers Limited, publishers of the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail and Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting (News Corporation).

It has been estimated the fee for hiring lawyers Levy & McRae and PR gurus Media House for a week would be around £25,000 and that his short stay at Castle Craig would have cost roughly £2,000. Hefty bills for a councillor earning £50,00 per annum !

On the Sunday night, the council PR team had prepared and been ready to release a statement saying Purcell's decision to quit was because of problems with 'drink and a chemical dependency'. This was blocked by Purcell's lawyer who then asked Glasgow City Council to make a statement declaring that there had never been a draft statement containing the words 'chemical dependency'. The council refused to do so.

Wednesday 3rd March - It was reported that Purcell was telling close friends that he intended to return to politics in the future. He left Castle Craig Clinic and returned to Glasgow.

Friday 5th March - A young Labour Party activist named Danus McKinlay, 18, a friend of the politician, died after collapsing in the street close to the City Chambers. He is thought to have had diabetes and asthma and Police have said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. However, that appears to have been the final straw and within two hours Purcell had resigned as a councillor and fled Scotland. He is understood to have flown to Australia for 'rest and recuperation', with some sources saying he may be away from the country for a year.

At a private meeting on 12th May 2009 held in Glasgow City Chambers, Purcell, 37, had been told by officers from the elite SCDEA (Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency), a unit set up specifically to probe cases of serious and organised crime and major drug dealing, that detectives investigating some of Scotland's biggest coke barons had been told that one dealer claimed to have incriminating mobile phone footage of him showing evidence of drug use. The Police were concerned that he could be in a position where his influence as the head of the country's biggest local authority might be exploited.

The officers at the meeting were Assistant Chief Constable Johnny Gwynne and Detective Chief Superintendent Allan Moffat, head of crime support at the agency. The politician told the officers that he was unaware of any attempt to blackmail him.

Perhaps oddly, apparently he was not asked by the officers whether he had used the drug but within weeks of the meeting, Purcell stunned friends by confessing to them that he had used cocaine in the past but had since stopped taking the Class A drug.

Senior Labour Party figures were made aware in 2008 of rumours that Purcell was a cocaine user but they dismissed them as 'malicious gossip'. The possibility that Mr Purcell could be a drug user was raised in a conference call of Labour politicians and advisers in the run-up to the Glasgow East by-election of July 2008 as they considered possible candidates following local councillor George Ryan's 'no show' at the selection meeting. Purcell was being considered at the highest levels of the party as a suitable candidate for the Westminster seat.

One well-placed source said, 'The possibility that Steven was using cocaine was raised but it was quickly dismissed by most people as the kind of rumour put around to discredit someone who appeared to have a lot to offer and who was running the council well. The discussion didn't really go anywhere because Steven ruled himself out of standing very quickly and people put that down to him being unsure of whether he wanted to pursue a career at Westminster or Holyrood.'

Shortly after the 2009 meeting with the SCDEA, Purcell moved from the flat he owned in Yoker, near Glasgow, where he had lived for most of his life, into a rented home in the city's West End.

He announced in December 2006 that he was splitting with wife of five years and came out as gay.

Through all of this, there has been no public comment from senior Scottish Labour politicians. Gordon Brown (Prime Minister), Jim Murphy (Scottish Secretary) and Iain Gray (Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland) have remained totally silent as events unfolded, whereas Alex Salmond, the SNP First Minister, who worked closely with Steven Purcell during the bid to bring the 2014 Commonwealth Games to Glasgow, paid tribute to him after his initial resignation as a councillor.