McConnell refuses to be hustled

FORMER first minister Jack McConnell yesterday dismissed a row over the timing of his departure to Malawi as "hype".
A committee of MPs said it would be "unsatisfactory" for Mr McConnell to stay on much longer as an MSP while preparing to become British High Commissioner in Malawi.

But Mr McConnell said: "I think there's a need to be realistic about this and not get too caught up in all the hype.

"There's a practical job to be done, and I'm looking forward to doing it."

Mr McConnell said he had no doubt the Foreign Office will choose "the right time" for him to get started and confirmed that there would be a by-election in his Motherwell and Wishaw constituency when he moves on.

But Mr McConnell added: "There will be absolutely no time when I'm still a member of the Scottish Parliament and High Commissioner in Malawi."

John Wilson, an SNP back-bench MSP, claimed today that if Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, had held an election last October Mr McConnell "may have been long gone".

He added: "That Labour is running scared of a by-election in one of their strongest constituencies shows just how much politics in Scotland has changed in the past year."