John Harris: Defeat in the Glasgow East byelection could be Gordon Brown's gravest crisis yet

In just over three weeks' time, there will be yet another Westminster byelection, this time in Glasgow East – news of which has prompted a rather muted response from the London-based press. Their relative lack of interest (from which, naturally enough, I exclude the Guardian) can presumably be put down to an ingrained reluctance to give much space to Scottish affairs – combined, I suspect, with a creeping fatigue when it comes to more dark tidings concerning Gordon Brown. But make no mistake: this is a big one. Go to the Scottish papers this morning, and words are not being minced. "If Labour loses the Glasgow East by-election," reckons the Herald, "it will bring down the curtain on Gordon Brown's short premiership." The seat being vacated by the veteran Scots MP David Marshall may be Labour's third-safest Scottish... [read full story]