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A SWITCHEROO candidate has been selected to fight the Ochil and South Perthshire constituency for the SNP in the general election.

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – who was a member of the Labour Party and stood for the Conservatives before joining the SNP – was chosen by local party members to contest the marginal seat in May.

It is currently held by Scottish Labour’s Gordon Banks MP, who had a 5187 vote majority over Annabel Ewing, daughter of SNP icon Winnie Ewing, at the last election.

On the back of a surge in SNP support, Ahmed-Sheikh hopes to overturn the Labour majority.

But her record for changing political horses as their popularity rises and falls was immediately picked up on by Labour.

A spokesman said: “Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh has held more political opinions than she’s had hot dinners. She’s been a member of the Tories, Labour and now

she’s running for the SNP.

“She failed to beat UKIP in the Euro elections and she’s already been rejected by SNP members in Falkirk.

“In Gordon Banks, the people of Ochil and South Perthshire have a hard-working MP who will be fighting hard to win in May.

“The choice at this election is clear. Labour or the Tories will form the next government. The more SNP MPs there are, the more likely it is that David Cameron will carry on in Downing Street.”

But a spokeswoman for the SNP said: “Tasmina is a wonderful candidate – a strong, successful woman who represents the very best of modern Scotland. Jim Murphy is obviously scared stiff of her and doesn’t have the guts to put his own name to this personal attack.

“It is Labour who have been in a toxic alliance with the Tories for two-and-a-half years in the referendum.”

Lawyer Ahmed-Sheikh, 44, stood as a Tory candidate in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election when she was paraded as the bright new face of Conservatism.

But the next year, she defected to the SNP – and later it emerged she was a member of the Labour Party for two years in the 1990s.

When she jumped ship to the Nats, Clive Schmulian, her former Tory election agent, said Ahmed-Sheikh was “desperate for a high profile and has a huge ego but she was very politically naive”.

And former Tory leader Annabel Goldie said the switch from unionism to separatism showed she was politically confused.

In the 2014 Euro election the SNP heralded Ahmed-Sheikh as heir to Winnie Ewing’s “Madame Ecosse” monicker – but she lost out to UKIP’s David Coburn.

This year, she hedged her bets by putting herself up for selection in several constituencies.