How the ground war won it for Labour
And Davy Russell, the well-liked candidate in question, proved to be a tremendous bonus in a contest fought on old-fashioned terms and in which the media – especially the broadcasters – failed to set the agenda.
His win will put a smile on the face of Scottish Labour and end the gloom of the last six months, in which the huge gains in last July's general election have disappeared and have even possibly been reversed by the SNP.
Scottish Labour still has masses to do – but in this part of what used to be a traditional heartland, it showed it is up for a fight in next May's Scottish Parliament election. It can't just sit back and enjoy Reform UK hammering the Scottish Tories – Nigel Farage's party is taking lots of votes off Labour too.
In this contest, Labour strategists highlighted what they claimed were Reform's 'dog whistle' tactics on race and its suggestion that the Barnett formula, which helps pay for Scotland's public services, might be scrapped. Mr Farage dismissed these claims as smears, but his critics believe that they helped 'crash his own campaign' and convince traditional Labour supporters to stay loyal.
The result was a shock for the SNP, but the party can blame it on its tactics – the stupid talking up of Reform's chances and sending Nicola Sturgeon to canvass in the constituency where her policies caused a decline.
There is no comfort in this result for the Scottish Tories. They scraped home with 6 per cent of the vote, just enough to save their deposit. It's difficult to know where they go from here – except perhaps to hope that the early signs of a civil war inside Reform will continue to fester.
One overriding aspect of this campaign has been that Scottish Labour won in spite of, and not because of, its relationship with UK Labour and Sir Keir Starmer's Government. Too many of the Government's policies have proved hugely unpopular with the voters, as Sir Keir seems to have recognised.
He was only 10 miles from Hamilton five days ago, launching his new defence policy in Glasgow. However, he wisely stayed away from the by-election campaign and nobody seems to have noticed.
On a significant, but lighter, note I reckon that if ground wars clinched the Labour victory, 'star wars' played a part, too. In an area where not everyone supports Glasgow Rangers Football Club – although they tend to keep quiet about the fact – and where light blue and orange are favourite colours, Labour won tributes from just about the two biggest personalities you could imagine.
Sir Alex Ferguson may have been manager of a hugely successful Manchester United, but in this constituency it's the fact that he had played for the 'Gers' that makes him a star.
And the honours list for Graeme Souness includes 54 Scottish international caps and numerous other accolades – the most important in these parts, being a no-nonsense former player-manager of Rangers.
Sir Alex was fulsome in his praise for Labour's candidate. He said that the surprise winner in this fiercely-fought local election was 'a man of integrity, determination, and deep commitment to his community'. He might have added, but didn't, that Mr Russell was also an occasional stand-in for the King, serving as a deputy lord lieutenant for Lanarkshire.
But when it comes to Mr Souness, who was reputed to have never avoided a tackle, he didn't ignore Mr Farage in his support of Mr Russell. Resorting to that well-known Scottish insult, which is one short of calling someone a 'liar', he said the Reform leader was a 'chancer' who didn't care about Scotland.
Yes, I know that my old friend Sir John Curtice could produce a long list of stats to provide a better explanation of Labour's win, but who's to say that, with a majority of just over 600 between first and second and less than 1500 votes between the first three, that personalities such as Sir Alex and Mr Souness didn't sway the voters.
After all, few opponents argued successfully with them in their playing days.
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