disgraced former Glasgow Labour MP and MSP Lord Watson has been allowed to rejoin the party seven years after he was jailed for fire- raising.

Watson, the former Glasgow Central MP and Cathcart MSP, was expelled from Labour following his conviction in 2004 for drunkenly setting fire to curtains at an Edinburgh hotel.

Some Scottish Labour politicians are understood to be unhappy at his re-admission, but under the party's rules he is able to be re-admitted, unless he was to be given a lifetime ban.

The current Cathcart MSP, James Dornan of the SNP, said: "The fact that Labour have quietly readmitted a convicted fire-raiser is an insult to all the people whose lives Mike Watson endangered."

Watson was jailed for 16 months for fire- raising after he was caught on CCTV at the Prestonfield Hotel in Edinburgh setting curtains on fire following an awards ceremony.

stewart.paterson@ eveningtimes.co.uk