WENDY Alexander, whose brief challenge to Jack McConnell for the post of first minister was over before it began, hinted yesterday that she has not given up hope of the Labour leadership.
Showing a rare willingness to discuss her rise and sudden departure from ministerial office six months after Mr McConnell was elected, she said she is glad he won.
However, her praise for him, in an interview on Real Radio, fell short of enthusiastic, saying only that he has brought "a genuine stability" to the administration in the past three years.
After speculation that the former enterprise minister might opt out of parliament, she added that she hopes for a long career in politics and that she is preparing herself for a bigger challenge.
Asked if she was aiming for a return to a higher level job than her role as an MSP and a visiting professor at Strathclyde University, she said: "I hope, subject to the support of the people of Paisley North, that I have a long career ahead of me in politics, and the question is:
how do you get ready to be the best that you can be?"
Asked if that meant becoming first minister, she replied:
"That's not on my mind or other people's minds at the moment."
Ms Alexander was special adviser to Donald Dewar when he was Scottish secretary, and he appointed her to the cabinet when she was first elected in 1999.
She became one of the executive's highest profile figures and prepared a leadership campaign launch after Henry McLeish resigned in November 2001, drawing the support of other ministers.
However, she pulled out in the opening weekend of the campaign and left a clear field for the then education minister.
She abruptly resigned from his cabinet six months later having complained privately of being burdened with too much ministerial work.
Speaking of her leadership campaign, she commented: "I was very, very, very glad, and I'm sure it was the right decision for me, and the nation, for me to say 'I'm not even 40 and I don't want this job'.
"I think Jack has brought genuine stability to the post, which after Donald's tragic death and the circumstances of Henry's departure, which were also sad, it was crucial that someone brought real stability to the ship. He's done that and he's done it incredibly well.
The MSP for Paisley North added: "I felt after he was elected it was important to stay and serve under him for six months, which I did, and then it was possible for me to say 'I want to go and see some of life that's hard to see where I am at the moment'.
"When I worked in business one of the things that was always said was 'make sure you see it from the customer's point of view'. I wanted to make sure I'd served my time and that meant taking some time to do different things, to be a really good constituency MSP, learning what's going on."
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