McConnell is plotting a decade in power

Lorraine Davidson, the former Labour spin doctor who has written this first, unauthorised biography of the First Minister, claims Mr McConnell plotted to become First Minister within minutes of being told of Mr Dewar's death.

She reveals the astonishing extent of Gordon Brown's control over the Scottish Executive in its early days - a meeting of the Scottish Cabinet was halted so the Chancellor could pass on his views to Mr Dewar by telephone - and explains the disintegration of the relationship between Mr McConnell and his predecessor, Henry McLeish, which became so bad that Mr McLeish refused to talk to Mr McConnell for nine months - even though the latter was his finance minister at the time.

"Ministers who valued their positions within McLeish's Cabinet went out of their way to distance themselves from Jack," the book claims.

But it is the revelations about Mr McConnell's future plans that will cause most interest at Holyrood. Mr McConnell became First Minister in 2001, having succeeded the disgraced Mr McLeish.

There has been much speculation about how long Mr McConnell can continue as First Minister and leader of the Labour group in the Scottish Parliament.

Ms Davidson writes: "Jack McConnell was only 41 years old when he became First Minister of Scotland. He has already served for four years and has told close friends that he wants to continue as Labour leader for six more years at least.

"Unforeseen circumstances aside, McConnell plans to lead his party into the 2007 and the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections. If he is lucky enough to remain as First Minister, by then he will have carried out the job for a decade - nine years longer than either Henry McLeish or Donald Dewar were able to."

And she adds: "In his wilder moments, he has talked of going off to Africa to teach maths. However, he has also admitted that his heart remains in Arran and that he will eventually want to move back there."

Ms Davidson has talked to many of Mr McConnell's colleagues, some of whom make it clear that they believe he was too ambitious, particularly when Mr Dewar had just died.

Sam Galbraith, one of Mr Dewar's closest friends and a Cabinet minister with Mr McConnell in 2000, criticised Mr McConnell's reaction on hearing of the death of the first First Minister. Mr Galbraith said: "Jack left the room and was straight on the phone to Andy Kerr, the East Kilbride MSP (and Mr McConnell's key political ally), and people didn't like that."

Gordon Brown's influence on Scottish politics was very strong after the 1999 election but no-one has revealed the extent of that on Cabinet meetings, until now.

But it is the breakdown of the relationship between Mr McConnell and Mr McLeish that really hindered the workings of the Scottish Cabinet.

According to Ms Davidson: "Ministers who valued their positions within McLeish's cabinet went out of their way to distance themselves from Jack.

"For the last nine months of his leadership, Henry McLeish did not have a single direct conversation with McConnell, such was the state of their relationship."

Jack's plan

JACK McConnell became Scotland's First Minister in 2001 following the resignation of Henry McLeish.

Labour emerged as the largest party in the Scottish Parliament after the election of 2003 but, without an overall majority, formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats.

As the leader of the Labour group in the parliament, Mr McConnell was returned as First Minister of that coalition government.

He has now told friends he wants to win two more elections and serve for at least ten years as First Minister, before stepping down, sometime into his third term - after 2011.