The Scottish Labour Party has chosen Henry McLeish to succeed the late Donald Dewar as First Minister. He beat Finance Minister Jack McConnell, by 44 votes to 36 at a meeting of Labour's Scottish Executive and Scottish Parliament Members. The Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Minister will take up an interim role as First Minister to satisfy a ruling that the fledgling Edinburgh Parliament cannot be leaderless for more than 28 days. He will be confirmed as First Minister by the Scottish Parliament next week. Both McLeish and McConnell have pledged to continue the commitment to social justice pursued by Dewar, the man who spearheaded the drive to bring a parliament back to Scotland after an absence of nearly three centuries.
