For those with a taste for politics the last two weeks could not have been more spectacular. Back-stabbing, rumours and now suspensions. Politics in Paisley, a small town in the west of Scotland, has been a source of anguish to its MPs and constituents and most probably for the family of the late Labour MP Mr Gordon McMaster. Riding on a wave of popular support since May 1st, the Labour government has had little to worry about. Of course, with a referendum for a Welsh assembly and a Scottish parliament just around the corner, that could all change.
Until then - and it is only a few weeks away - the Labour leadership will grapple with its problems north of the border.
It is easy to feel sorry for Gordon McMaster. "A decent politician driven over the edge," as the Daily Telegraph described him. And a man "ill with booze", as the suspended Labour MP for Renfrewshire West, Mr Tommy Graham, added.
Mr McMaster was known to be suffering from acute depression as a result of organo-phosphate poisoning, perhaps contracted during his days as a professional gardener. But in a rambling suicide note, addressed to his parents and the Labour leadership, he named MPs and councillors in the west of Scotland for taking part in a "dirty tricks" campaign against him.
Rumours that Mr McMaster was homosexual and had AIDS surfaced in the press. One of them was that Mr McMaster had been seen by a journalist in a London gay club..
But it was the leaking of the suicide note to the press that brought the venom of politics in Paisley to the fore. Claim and counter-claim have swept the constituency as those named in the note have either gone on holiday, as in the case of Mr Graham, or admitted telling journalists they had heard rumours that Mr McMaster was homosexual.
However, the problems for Labour do not end there. In another twist to the tale, the party's former chief whip, Mr Derek Foster, has been drawn into the controversy with allegations that he helped to quash an inquiry into corruption in Renfrewshire West in 1995.
These new allegations date back to an investigation into Mr Graham's constituency when he was described by the chief whip's office as a "hard-working and conscientious member".
The Tories, perhaps mindful of the fact that they have no MPs in Scotland, remained quiet in the first two weeks after Mr McMaster's suicide but have now come out with all guns blazing. The dispute bodes ill for the government's plans for Scottish devolution, they say, when London has to step in to solve a local problem.
But there is an underlying complaint among some Labour MPs in Scotland that the leadership did not deal quickly enough with the problems that beset Paisley. They made their feelings known ahead of the suspension of Mr Graham from the Parliamentary Labour Party when they threatened to come down to London to tackle the chief whip, Mr Nick Brown. They appear calm for now, but privately the Scottish Labour Party is bitterly disappointed by London's failure to move earlier.
The Scottish press, too, is wheeling out complaints against the government, which it says has dragged its feet over Paisley. As a result of squabbling surrounding Mr Graham, his future as an MP is in doubt, the press has claimed. Asked about Mr Graham's future, a senior Labour official hinted as much when he said the allegations Mr Graham had made about Mr McMaster had "loosened the trapdoor" beneath him.
It is impossible to calculate the depth of bad feeling that has gripped Paisley, nicknamed "A Town Called Malice", in the wake of its reputation for drugs and bitter politics.
Meanwhile, the Minister without Portfolio, Mr Peter Mandelson, arrived in Edinburgh yesterday to address a group of Labour activists within hours of Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar's launch of the party's "Yes, Yes" campaign, and will today be campaigning in Rutherglen in Glasgow.
He told activists the referendum represented a "golden opportunity" to create a parliament that was neither a slippery slope to separation nor a "ramp for higher taxation". But he went on to warn: "Make no mistake. It is a one-off opportunity.
"If we do not do it this time, the chance will not return. We will not be asked twice to make these changes, create this parliament, bring about this modernisation of our democracy that we so desperately need."