Politics is a fickle business - just ask former Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson.

Last year the Labour politician was on the world stage welcoming the Commonwealth to our city.

Now he’s on the backbenches with his bid to be elevated to deputy leader of Scottish Labour and secure a guaranteed seat at Holyrood in tatters.

One council insider put it to me that his political career had been “destroyed”.

One minute you’re up, the next you’re down.

We’ve seen a seismic shift at the very top of the Labour Party with the landslide victory for Jeremy Corbyn.

Shortly afterwards he appointed many of his pals to the shadow cabinet.

Who would have thought John McDonnell would be shadow chancellor after spending almost two decades in the political equivalent of Siberia?

But political leaders are all the same.

Prime Minister David Cameron wasted no time in appointing his Bullingdon Club chum George Osborne as his chancellor.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also reshuffled the pack when she succeeded Alex Salmond.

Big beasts Kenny McAskill and Mike Russell were swiftly replaced by Michael Matheson and Angela Constance, while Sturgeon's close ally Shona Robison was promoted to health secretary.

Now new leader of Glasgow City Council Frank McAveety is in the process of appointing his team.

A source in his inner circle revealed he has had one-to-one chats with several councillors ahead of this week’s Labour Group meeting.

And what of the plotters who conspired to remove McAveety’s predecessor from the top job in Scottish local government?

Well, the rewards could be lucrative.

The council leader of the day – who earns £56,000 a year - has the power to hire and fire political colleagues on a whim.

In 2013 Matheson unceremoniously dumped Councillor George Redmond from his job as chairman of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) amid allegations of plots and disloyalty.

The basic salary for a backbench councillor is around £16,000 but that is topped up by a “responsibility allowance”.

The man who replaced George Redmond at the top of SPT, Councillor Jim Coleman, coined in an additional £20,000 last year.

Meanwhile, councillors who are chosen to head up big departments – known in the council as Executive Members – can almost double their basic salary to around £32,000.

McAveety’s allies, such as Redmond and Councillor Alistair Watson, can expect to be appointed to key council roles.

But those who worked against the new leader may find themselves in the political wilderness.

One councillor who currently holds a top job admitted they are in the “outer circle” and could be ousted.

But Redmond, who some say is McAveety’s right hand man, could soon be in charge Development and Regeneration Services.

McAveety’s appointments must be rubber stamped by the council’s executive committee - although that is usually a formality.

The top jobs are in fact decided during secretive meeting inside the city chambers.

And the carve-up has begun.