By Steve Bargeton, political editor

A LABOUR MSP who was at the heart of the donations scandal that eventually led to Wendy Alexander quitting as Scottish Labour leader said yesterday he is thinking of standing for the job.

Former Glasgow City Council chief Charlie Gordon was forced to stand down as the party’s transport spokesman at Holyrood after admitting to making mistakes over a £950 donation to Ms Alexander’s leadership campaign.

The donation, from Jersey businessman Paul Green, broke the law on foreign donations and started a chain of events which led to Ms Alexander resigning at the weekend.

Acting leader Cathy Jamieson and health spokeswoman Margaret Curran have already said they are thinking about running, while Iain Gray, Labour’s finance spokesman, is also said to be considering a bid to succeed Ms Alexander.

Many observers believe that former cabinet minster Andy Kerr will also run.

Yesterday Mr Gordon surprised observers by admitting he, too, was considering running.

Referring to the circumstances which saw him removed form the Labour front bench team, he said, “I made a mistake, I’ve admitted that.

“It was a serious mistake, I immediately stood down from the Labour frontbench, I co-operated in full, I reported myself to the Electoral Commission and when they looked at it, while they told me I had been extremely careless, they didn’t report me to the prosecution authorities.

“You usually have to set out to break the law, and there was no malicious intent on my part.”

Mr Gordon, elected as Glasgow Cathcart MSP in 2005, said his six years in charge of Glasgow City Council showed he had leadership qualities.

“I ran Glasgow for six years and I think most objective observers would say that it improved over that time,” he said.

“We built about 40 new schools, I kickstarted the regeneration of the Clyde waterfront and brought in new policies such as free breakfasts in our primary schools. There were a lot of jobs created in that time.

“While I haven’t got a great deal of parliamentary experience, the experience of running an administration, running a big city, is leadership experience.”

However John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said the Labour Party might be looking for a leader who was not associated with the donations affair.

“Some people are going to say to themselves ‘who was the person who solicited the donation that got Wendy Alexander into trouble’,” he said.

“It is alleged it was Charlie Gordon, Charlie Gordon took responsibility, he resigned as transport spokesman in the Holyrood Parliament because he admitted he made a mistake.”