A miserable start for Peter Watt

THE Dunfermline and West Fife by-election was timed to give the Prime Minister a boost on the eve of today's Labour Party Spring conference in Blackpool. Keeping the seat would have sent the message to his critics that everything was still rosy in Labour's Garden of Eden.

The only people not in on this obvious good news story were the electors of Dunfermline and West Fife, who decided to return a Liberal Democrat instead. A swing of more than 16% saw Willie Rennie triumph.

So who was the architect of Labour's misfortune? Step forward Peter Watt, the new General Secretary of the Labour Party, who used to be based in Ipswich when he was the East of England regional co-ordinator.

He was in charge of the East when Labour held the by-election in Ipswich in November 2001, just a few weeks after the death of the town's popular MP Jamie Cann. Jamie's family objected to the party choosing the candidate before the fiuneral, and even though Labour had a change of heart and delayed the choice by 24 hours, his son Andrew never forgave Watt and co and joined the Liberal Democrats.

The new General Secretary will be intrdouced to the party faithful in Blackpool this weekend -  will you be able to hear the applause above the sound of the waves crashing on the nearby promenade?