Pharmacist denies making blunder in Labour contest after referring to himself as party 'candidate'

EXCLUSIVE: A Labour source accused Mo Ameen of "arrogance" after campaign messages to members referred to him as Labour's "Glasgow Southside candidate".

A pharmacist has denied making a blunder in a hotly contested Scottish Labour selection after he described himself as the party “candidate”.

A Labour source accused Mo Ameen of "arrogance" over the campaign messages.

A hustings will take place this afternoon in the race to become the Labour candidate for the Glasgow Southside seat for Holyrood.

Ameen is up against fellow party members Ben Procter and Paul Devlin.

One message to local members stated: "I'm Mo Ameen, Labour Party's Glasgow Southside candidate."

Another message read: "Mo Ameen here again - Labour's Glasgow Southside candidate."

Speaking to the Record, Ameen said did not accept he had made a mistake because the messages which he sent to members were titled "hustings".

When asked by the Record if he had accepted he had made a mistake, Ameen initially replied: "I'm really sorry, I don't know what you're talking about, honestly."

When it was then put to him that the Record had seen messages sent to members in which he claimed to be the candidate despite the selection not taking place yet, he replied: "Of course it's not. Yes, I mean the message is most likely titled hustings."

He continued: "I think that's very, very critical. If it mentions hustings, that I'm the candidate, then it's quite explicit."

When the Record tried to read the message to Ameen, he said: "There's no need my friend. You've actually accepted and qualified that it's headed hustings."

He added: "I'm actually going to leave it at that."

A Labour source said: “It smacks of arrogance to declare yourself the candidate before a single member has voted.”

Ameen is a community pharmacist and chair of Pollokshields Community Council.

Nicola Sturgeon is the current MSP for Glasgow Southside. The former first minister beat Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar in the constituency in the 2021 Holyrood election.

Sarwar is now standing in the neighbouring Glasgow Cathcart and Pollok.

Labour has already selected many of its candidates for the Holyrood election as Sarwar bids to become the first Labour First Minister since 2007.

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