Bruised... but not yet beaten

The future of East Lothian MP Anne Moffat remains, nevertheless, at risk following last week's rebellion from her local party - but she remains Labour's candidate for the coming General Election.

On Tuesday, the Labour Party's all-powerful National Executive Committee is understood to have met in response to local party delegates voting overwhelmingly last Friday in favour of the NEC re-opening the East Lothian Labour candidate selection process for the upcoming Westminster poll, expected to be on May 6.

Although national party bosses are refusing to comment, the Courier understands that the NEC stalled a decision on Anne Moffat's candidacy - leaving East Lothian Labour in complete disarray following this latest rebellion against their beleaguered MP.

Last Friday's special general committee meeting of the East Lothian Constituency Party, held in the Prestonpans Labour Club, descended into chaos as about 50 Moffat supporters turned up in an attempt to sit in on the delegates-only debate surrounding the MP's future.

Police were forced to intervene about 45 minutes into the meeting, with Ms Moffat's new husband Lawrence McCran said to be at the head of the protests, a source has claimed.

And as a result of last Friday night's events, it has emerged that at least three long-standing Labour supporters, and long-time members of the town's Labour Club, allegedly including Mr McCran, have been handed indefinite bans from the club due to their behaviour.

Many of the protesters turned up at the Prestonpans club after they received anonymous letters and phone calls urging them to attend the meeting, with the phone calls allegedly coming from Ms Moffat's constituency office in Tranent.

The meeting of the General Committee of East Lothian Labour Party began at 7pm on Friday night, but was quickly disrupted by Ms Moffat's supporters. Following their removal from the front of the main hall by police the meeting continued uninterrupted.

It is thought Ms Moffat was in the Prestonpans Labour Club building at the time, but did not enter the hall where the meeting took place and stayed with her supporters in the club's main bar area.

The beleaguered MP, who has represented the county since 2001, has hit back at deselection process calling her opponents "bullies" who are afraid of strong women in the political field.

Labour Party activists voted 25 to five in favour of a motion calling for her deselection, with the final decision resting with the party's National Executive Committee.

If the decision is given the go-ahead, Ms Moffat will become the second MP to lose her position following Livingston MP Jim Devine's deselection due to an expense scandal.

Political opponents have seized upon the political debacle, calling Friday night's events a "sorry pantomime" which will lead the Labour Party to an "inevitable electoral defeat".

But supporters of the under-fire MP have hit back at the "poor treatment" Ms Moffat has received from the county's delegates.

Michael Vietch, Scottish Conservative Westminster candidate for East Lothian, said: "It appears that having lurched from one crisis to another, the East Lothian Labour Party is now in a state of total turmoil. They have well and truly burnt their bridges with the people of the county, who deserve much better than this sorry pantomime.

"The only good news in all of this is that the general election is now just a few short months away, and the people of East Lothian will finally get the chance to cast their verdict on the local Labour party.

"The Conservatives are the serious alternative to Labour at Westminster, and come the election voters in the county will have the opportunity to elect a local, hard-working Conservative Member of Parliament, and in so doing help to get rid of this tired and failing Labour Government." Stuart Ritchie, East Lothian Liberal Democrat candidate, said: "The Labour Party know that the people of East Lothian were about to deliver their own vote of no confidence on both the current MP and the Westminster government. No amount of rearranging the chairs on the titanic is going to stop East Lothian Labour Party from their inevitable electoral defeat.

"For too long the Labour Party has only been interested in petty internal arguments and their own egos. Come the General Election, the people of East Lothian can at last vote for a candidate and a party that will put them first, instead of the personal feuds that is rife in the local labour party." And Andrew Sharp, SNP Westminster Candidate for East Lothian, added: "Labour needs to grow up, they are once again letting East Lothian voters down by indulging in silly factional in fighting rather than dealing with the real issues affecting voters in this recession.

"Faced with defeat by the SNP in the General Election, Labour is now so frightened of us that they are trying to throw their sitting MP on the scrapheap, and just a couple of months before the election are seeking to parachute in a completely new candidate who has little chance of beating the SNP. "Labour is driven by self interest, and Iain Gray is plainly very worried that the loss of the Westminster seat to the SNP will sound the death knell for his already marginal majority over the SNP, following our performance in 2007.

"The voters of East Lothian will not forgive Labour if political cronyism imposes yet another faceless backbencher on the county. East Lothian deserves better than this.

"This will do nothing to convince the voters that Labour is an adequate alternative to the SNP." But, Pat Hanson, a delegate from North Berwick who attended Friday's meeting, claims the attempt to remove Ms Moffat from her position could be "disastrous" for the Labour Party as we approach the coming elections in May.

He said: "I can confirm I did speak in favour of Ms Moffat at Friday's meeting, but I don't really want to talk about what happened inside the building. This has all been going on for over four years now, and I believe Ms Moffat has been very poorly treated.

"I spoke to her following the meeting and she seemed in good spirits. Those against her are taking a very short-term view of the whole situation, whereas I tried to look at it more long-term. To remove Anne now could prove disastrous for the Labour Party, what with the election being announced for May." And Margaret Libberton, councillor for Preston/Seton and Gosford, added: "I heard all about Friday's events and was shocked by it all. This kind of behaviour is not helping the party at all. Whatever decision the NEC makes I will support. There is nobody bigger than the party.

"I've known Anne a while and always found her to be courteous and professional in our dealings, but I'm loyal through and through to the party and I'm not going to get involved in public mud-slinging." During Friday's meeting, an unnamed delegate proposed a resolution asking the NEC to open up the Westminster candidate re-selection procedure, effectively removing Ms Moffat from her parliamentary seat. The motion was passed by an overwhelming 5-1 majority.

In 2008, the East Lothian Labour Party had also tried to remove Ms Moffat from her position as East Lothian's Westminster MP, but were defeated by the national executive who fully backed the Cockenzie-based member after she received the support of her previous union employers, Unison.

As a result, the Labour Party suspended all businessconducted by the local Prestonpans branch.

According to our source, a meeting of the NEC was due to take place on January 12 to discuss Ms Moffat's position, but that meeting was cancelled because "either Unison or Moffat herself threatened to take legal action against the party".

Following the first attempt to oust Ms Moffat, our source claimed a "way forward" was agreed by the national party to end the in-fighting, but that Moffat had "broken the spirit of the agreement", thus allowing the East Lothian delegates to put forward this week's motion. Accusations against the MP range from failing to attend campaign meetings and failing to meet with local party members to discuss expenses.

He added: "If the NEC does not open up the deselection process East Lothian Labour Party will be no more. Everyone is sick of how Moffat's supporters tried to sabotage Friday's meeting. And I would like to add that party leader Iain Gray has had nothing to do with this in any way, shape or form." A source from inside the SNP camp said: "What has happened to Anne has Iain Gray's and Jim Murphy's hands all over it. But, we have probably lost our greatest asset in Anne Moffat, and it goes to show how much trouble Labour is actually in.

"The returns we are getting on the doorsteps since this has happened are quite incredible. We are getting returns of up to 38 per cent in our favour.

"If we can get parity in Prestonpans, Musselburgh and Tranent we will take East Lothian at the coming election. I also understand Anne Moffat could get severance pay of up to £65,000 if she walks away from her position." Following Friday's meeting, the party's decision will now go to the party's NEC where it is expected to be ratified over the coming weeks.

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "Members are entitled, under the Labour Party rules, to request the NEC to recommence the selection of the prospective parliamentary candidate. The motion was passedby local members at the East Lothian constituency party's general committee and will be considered by the NEC at the next opportunity." And a police spokesman added: "Lothian and Borders Police responded to the Prestonpans Labour Club around 7.55pm on Friday 22nd January following reports of a protest.

"Advice was given to those involved and the group dispersed with no arrests or complaints being made." Ms Moffat has never been far from the headlines during her nine-year reign as East Lothian's MP. In 2007, it was revealed that the 51 year-old's travelling expenses were the equivalent of driving round the world in a year. She billed the taxpayer for the 24,000-mile claim despite also claiming an air fare a week between London and Edinburgh and over 80 train fares.

And last year it was revealed the under-fire MP claimed for a £600 plasma television, a new leather sofa, a blow-up airbed and a £20 poppy wreath after her expenses were published. In total, she claimed almost £600,000 in expenses between 2003/04 and 2007/08.

Ms Moffat also hit the front pages in May last year following an alleged assault by youths in which she suffered abrasions to her face and had jewellery stolen as she jogged near to her home in Cockenzie. But, police, surprisingly, dropped their hunt for the culprits after just one week due to a lack of evidence.

Two days later, she was admitted to Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary after doctors discovered bleeding on her brain. She has subsequently made a full recovery following a second spell in hospital later that year.

Anne Moffat became the first ever female MP to represent East Lothian when she was elected in 2001, taking over from the popular John Home Robertson. The former-nurse, and former-national president of Unison, is originally from Fife but has strong family connections to the county.

Ms Moffat and her husband Lawrence McCran could not be contacted this week.