Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, was yesterday revealed as the celebrity weapon the Scottish Labour Party is using to counter Sean Connery of the Scottish National Party, in the battle for tomorrow's historic election.
He did not return to his native country for this late appearance in the game, instead lending his face to a poster for the final two days before polling. This is designed to encourage Labour supporters to back the governing party on all three votes Scots will have tomorrow. Two of them are in the proportional system, which is new to British politics, and the third for local councils.
"Make it a hat trick for Labour," was the message from the formidable, exiled Scot, who used to manage Aberdeen FC. "I've said it before. I'm a Labour man through and through and I want to see a Labour administration in the new Scottish parliament."
Celebrity endorsements have played a much lower profile part in this campaign than when Labour won power in London two years ago. Then Luvvies for Labour featured the artistic community. Now, Scotland's cultural figures are more likely to be backing the Scottish National Party, most notably Sean Connery, who spoke briefly at a party rally last week.
The polls in the battle for control of this first Scottish parliament for nearly 300 years have consistently shown Labour emerging as the largest party on Friday morning, but just short of the 65 seats it needs to form a majority. A new NOP poll yesterday put Labour on 62 seats to the SNPs 43, with Conservatives on 17 and Liberal Democrats on 11. The final push for all the parties is to maximise their second, top-up vote, partly because it is very unclear how well voters understand how it works.
Labour is going all out in the final days with scare tactics about independence to ensure that the new electoral system does not leave it dependent on a smaller party to run the Edinburgh administration.
Mr John Prescott, the British Deputy Prime Minister, said: "There are 48 hours left to stop economic instability and constitutional chaos. The SNP are not bluffing. Alex Salmond is deadly serious about his plans for divorce."
Yesterday, Labour was also able to trumpet a jobs announcement. Last month's threat to 2,000 Kvaerner jobs with the sale of the Clyde's last major merchant shipyard in Govan has threatened to damage the tightly-controlled government party campaign.
But yesterday, Labour could boast that the rapid expansion of One-to-One mobile phones in the UK has led to the company setting up its main call centre at Greenock, on the Clyde west of Glasgow. In an investment enterprise Ireland was also hoping to attract, the centre is to have 800 jobs.
For the SNP, the campaign has become a bid to save face, following months when it threatened to beat Labour and form the first administration. Expectations of a major breakthrough have been lowered, and the leadership security of Mr Salmond depends on the party winning at least 40 seats out of 129.
The party has fastened on a late shift in tactics to criticise Labour for plans to privatise schools and hospitals. This is a reference to the London government's Private Finance Initiative, contracting with private firms to build and operate public services, while they are paid for out of public funds and remain free for public use.
Labour has faced fierce criticism from its friends and financial backers in the trade unions, who fear the impact on non-professional jobs.
Mr Michael Russell, the SNP chief executive, claimed: "Labours support is melting away, as people realise that a Labour-controlled parliament would private key public services in Scotland."
The dynamics of the new voting system also mean that parties have to campaign throughout the country. The centrist Liberal Democrats, who hope to form a coalition with either Labour or the SNP if no party has an overall majority, took their message to Cumbernauld yesterday, a new town north of Glasgow. It is keen to stress that the new voting system means votes for the Liberal Democrats are not wasted anywhere. Mr Paddy Ashdown, the party leader, was at a factory there, to learn about the making of Irn Bru, an immensely popular soft drink.
Today, the campaign winds up with the party leaders returning to their bases: Mr Donald Dewar of Labour in the country's biggest Labour social club; Mr Salmond with a speech on Calton Hill, symbolic of Scottish home rule aspirations, and then travelling to his constituency north of Aberdeen; Mr Jim Wallace of the Liberal Democrats at a nursery school stressing the central message of education investment, and Mr David McLetchie of the Conservatives returns to the Edinburgh seat where he hopes to begin a revival for the bruised and battered former government.
