As soon as we’d entered the community garden I spotted the gnome lurking in the shrubbery, affecting innocence. And if I’d spotted it, then surely Anas Sarwar had too. The two photographers certainly had. They were crouching down at my right as Labour’s Scottish leader rattled off his well-thumbed New Deal for Working People, the primer for every candidate in this election and which every one of them must, by now, be reciting in their sleep.

It was clear what the two lensmen were about: capturing an image of an unsuspecting Mr Sarwar with a bearded goblin for company. Wattie Cheung, doyen of political snappers, flashes me a vulpine grin and puts his finger to his lips. It wasn’t my job though, to tell Mr Sarwar that we were being photo-bombed by a veteran, two-foot sprite of rustic appearance.

It’s doubtful though, that the Labour leader would have broken stride. He’s on something of a roll right now with three polls currently showing his party building up a consistent lead over the SNP barely a week before the election.

This morning, he’s meeting community volunteers and staff at Muirfield Community hub, tucked away behind a retail estate near Cumbernauld’s compellingly unlovely town centre.

Anas Sarwar is unfazed by the gnome (Image: free)

“Retail estate,” is being a bit generous. The road into this place is flanked by a cardiac boulevard of fast-food emporiums. Every continent is represented by all types of fish and fowl: KFC, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Burger King, Marini’s Fish and Chips and an outlet called Red Chillies offering curries, kebabs and pizzas. See Cumbernauld. See ethnic diversity …

Mr Sarwar is here to support Katrina Murray, Labour’s candidate in Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch. Everyone in west central Scotland knows someone in Cumbernauld or has family here and we’ve all been given our own guided tours of that Town Centre, a true West of Scotland wonder: reviled by architects and aesthetes, but loved by the people that matter.

You never forget your first tour of this concrete behemoth, where every shop and brand you’d ever imagined were crammed into three canopied........

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