Friday, May 8, 2015

Bad night for Labour Party in Scotland turns into epic defeat, SNP’s ‘hate over hope’ campaign turns the tide in their favour, defeated candidate, Ian Davidson calls for Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy to resign, I am constantly amazed how some people in politics don’t have a clue about leadership, Jim Murphy needs to stay the course















Dear All

There is an old saying the public is always right, in the case of the Westminster 2015, I would say, the Scottish public got it spectacularly wrong this time.

And badly wrong, in this case the SNP managed to pull off an epic con trick.

56 wins in Scotland.

We previously had the SNP call Labour in Scotland, the ‘feeble 50’; we will now see the feeble 56 emerge.

Having been side lined by near death in December 2014, I had to sit this election out on the side lines as my health wasn’t great, under normal circumstances I would prefer to be in the trenches fighting away for votes. It seems that serious illness isn't as fun as it used to be.

Especially when you are hours away from dying!

So, the Conservatives have won the election and will form the next Government.

To the Scottish situation, to say that the Labour Party had a bad night would be an understatement, yesterday on twitter I was asked how I felt things were doing, I couldn’t answer but previously in offline discussions with people I flagged up how some people’s seats in Glasgow were in danger.

Now, we know the result, the real surprise is that Labour’s Scottish leader Jim Murphy lost his seat.

This is a shame because he unlike some others put the work in.

Having lost his seat, he is also now facing calls to resign, he shouldn’t do that, he has a task to do, that task is to rebuild the Labour Party in Scotland. Yesterday, I voted for Ian Davidson, he lost his Glasgow South West seat to the SNP, if you had read my posts about the indyref, you might have noticed that I commented on him and how the Labour Party in Pollok never came out with the BT volunteers on the ground.

Not once did Ian Davidson, Johann Lamont or any of the Labour Councillors join us, so is it a surprise that the Labour Party lost in Pollok?

It wasn’t like the SNP had a good candidate in Chris Stephens, trust me on that one.

Ian Davidson lost his seat because he and many others in Labour thought wrongly that they had a job for life and that their position was secure.

I suppose the question is, after getting routed will Ian Davidson be out doing activism in the Pollok for Holyrood 2016?

I doubt it.

His call that Jim Murphy could not now continue as leader is meaningless.

The Labour Party in Scotland needs a rethink; that rethink needs to address the issue if elected officials don’t pull their weight they are a liability and luxury that Labour cannot afford.

Davidson added:

“He was elected as party leader on the basis that he was an MP. Only MPs and MSPs can stand for the leadership. Morally, as the man who has led us to the biggest ever disaster that Labour has suffered in Scotland ... of course he can’t continue. The process of rebuilding the Labour Party has got to start with an examination of both personnel and ideas. And therefore Jim has got to do the honourable thing and resign. I’m sure once he has got time to reflect, he will do that.”

The Labour Party need to change its rules, the honourable thing to do is to stay the course and not bale out because of some local difficulty; can Ian Davidson really say he did everything possible?

Not once did he come out to be an activist in BT during the indyref during my time there.

Ed Miliband said a “surge of nationalism” had overwhelmed the party in Scotland said he was “deeply sorry” for what had happened.

I imagine he is “deeply sorry” for not being assertive in ruling out a deal with the SNP at the beginning, he allowed David Cameron to talk up the SNP as a threat which gave the Conservatives what they wanted in England.

Sunk by indecision!

Jim Murphy was the biggest casualty of the night; he had held his seat for nearly 20 years, pretty good run by any stretch of the imagination.

After the result, he said:

“The Scottish Labour party has been around for more than a century. A hundred years from tonight we will still be around.”

As well as Jim Murphy, Douglas Alexander and shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran also lost, and neither to better candidates from the SNP.

Ian Murray of the Labour Party held off Neil Hay from the SNP in the Edinburgh South constituency which isn’t much consolation for the Labour Party given his anti-Trident stance which is simply not credible in today’s world of threats!

Is there any good news?

Well, I guess not, other than there will be another election; the short term prospects for Labour will continue to be bad in 2016. The real fight back for them should probably start proper in 2017 at the Council elections.

Westminster 2015 will go down as ‘hate over hope’, the SNP won the day, but once their MPs open their gobs, the people will see they have really no representation.

As to Ian Davidson, he lost because he couldn’t be arsed to work in Pollok, Johann Lamont will be shitting herself after this result because she is cut from the same cloth as Davidson, I am sorry he lost his seat but campaigns are won on doorsteps, something Ian Davidson should adopt if he wants to try for another seat.

Jim Murphy needs to stay.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

23 comments:

Hun fae Perth said...

Enjoy your SNP.

Enjoy huge tax rises within 6 years with FFA. Enjoy large cuts to public services. Enjoy business heading south and the job losses incurred. Enjoy disinvestment in Scotland. Enjoy your loss of Barnett. Enjoy increased borrowing and mounting debt. Get used to EU law being more integrated and aligned in Scotland- your really going to enjoy that. Enjoy all the extra immigrants the SNP want to encourage to Scotland. Enjoy your new HUGE MOSQUE in Perthshire no doubt coming soon, with Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh there to open it for you. Enjoy your Muslim ghettos that will surely follow. Enjoy crime and rape as it rises quickly when that Muslim population mushrooms, exactly as has happened in the Scandinavian countries. Enjoy increased NHS loads. Enjoy job losses associated to pre Trident removal planning. Enjoy listening to cringeworthy new MP's trying to make it in Westminster and making complete fools of themselves on behalf of Scotland. Enjoy those MP's doing nothing for Scotland in the UK. Enjoy all the problems the SNP will cause as they put independence before everything else. But really, really, the biggest enjoyment you're going to get out of everything is the Islamic religion. Please do enjoy that because it's going to become so prominent in your lives in the next 10 plus years. You have only yourselves to blame for voting for the SNP. Enjoy it all !!

Anonymous said...

I bet that Cameron will offer FFA to Scotland. And what's the betting that the SNP will accept this, without having to take responsibility for Defence and Foreign Affairs. And they will screw up.
To put it bluntly, Labour fucked up. They treated the election as if it was the Referendum, forgetting that many 'No' voters are prepared to vote SNP to parliament.

The biggest liability to the SNP is once again Alex Salmond. They kept him locked in a box during the campaign. Now he's back out again. Rest assured he is going to make an arse of himself. Let's have a survey in 6 months time to see who the public think is the leader of the SNP.

Labour need to take their time and rebuild in Scotland. We cannot have a one party state. It's dangerous for democracy.

r11co said...

At what point are the SNP going to admit that for the second time in recent history they were the catalyst that led to a Conservative majority government? Been waiting 36 years for them to acknowledge the first time.

"Tories - never again" the banner that hung over the M8 said on the day of the Scottish Referendum. Thanks to the SNP splitting the Labour vote and chasing lots of English voters into the arms of the Conservatives, well, here we are again....!

Freddy said...

A sad day George but no doubt once this motley crew get to the bright lights of London they will be shown up in so many ways. A few of them probably on the front pages of the tabloids. The best of the candidates should stand for Hollyrood Only if they are willing to actually put the work in on the ground. Let's see how much work they put in actually representing their constituents.

G Laird said...

Hi Freddy

That's politics for you, the best candidate doesn't always win.

George

Freddy said...

I know George but i'm reminded about that old tale about the wheel turning etc. Or even the slave standing behind the emperor whispering you are only mortal because sure as hell they probably believe they are omnipotent at the moment. But hey ho thats life let's see what their record looks like when it comes time to stand for parliament again.

Anonymous said...

You have been absolutely right Georgieboy, cold comfort I know.surely there is no way Cameron will allow indy2.as for salmond we can always hope for a cardiac solution.crookie

Anonymous said...

Now the trick from the SNP.
Convince the Tories, to get shot of Scotland. The only aim they have.

Smudge said...

If Sturgeon and her SNzP get FFA, tax evasion will become rife. Who wants this lot stealing their hard earned income to throw all over the place. Join the fightback.

Anonymous said...

I believe that Scotland very badly needs its very own Abraham Lincoln to defeat once and for all Scotland's own Jefferson Davis (Nicola Sturgeon) and put the final nail into the coffin of Scottish separatism and nationalism once and for all. Abraham Lincoln who became America's 16th President was born in the State of Kentucky which was both a southern state and a slave state as well. Abraham Lincoln although he was a southerner took a very hard stand against and was an oppenent of slavery which was extremley popular in the American South. Abraham Lincoln's enemey during the American Civil War was Jefferson Davis who himself was born in the State of Kentucky just like Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was a hardline American Unionist who believed that the Union should be protected at all cost even if that meant a CIVIL WAR. Abraham Lincoln did something that was rare of a southerner and that was he put his country (America)over his state (Kentucky). Abraham Lincoln showed extreme bravery and courage when after he became President of America he declared war and on the southern Confederate rebels who wanted independence of the south from the north. After a very violent and bloody civil war which cost the lives of at least 600.000 people, cities burnt to the ground, iinfrastructure destroyed and the south in the ruins, Abraham Lincoln became known as the savior of the nation and became America's gratest hero and best president and when he outlawed slavery he became a ledgend and an icon in world history. Because of Abraham Lincoln's defence and protection of the Union, America became the richest and most powerfull nation on Earth. I believe it is time for Scotland to find its very own Abraham Lincoln who should be elected into office not of that of First Minister of Scotland but Prime Minister of Great Britain who will have the nerve to stand up and challange and defeat and crush Scotland's Jefferson Davis (Nicola Sturgeon) and Scotland's very own confederate rebels (SNP) once and for all and consign them to the trash bin of Scottish and British history where they belong. I believe that only a Scottish Abraham Lincoln can save the Union from it's destruction at the hands of the snp separatist traitors. Sadly the one who comes closest to being Scotland's Abraham Lincoln is Ruth Davidson. I pick Ruth Davidson because she is an under dog and is in the minority of Scottish oppion just like how Abraham Lincoln was the underdog and the minority of southern oppion. Abraham Lincoln was a WRESTLER and Ruth Davidson is a KICKBOXER, so Ruth Davidson does have something incommon with Abraham Lincoln in the fact that both were into combat sports. I believe that Ruth Davidson is the best hope for the union and it is vital that she becomes the next Prime Minister of Great Britain and hopefully somebody can give her a book about Abraham Lincoln so that she can learn from him and someday become similiar to him. Ruth Davidson like Abraham Lincoln must be prepared to save the union at any cost. Given enough advice, help and coaching, I believe that Ruth Davidson (Abraham Lincoln) will defeat Nicola Sturgeon (Jefferson Davis) once and for all.

ARRISE SCOTLAND'S OWN ABRAHAM LINCOLN BOTH SCOTLAND AND GREAT BRITAIN NEEDS YOU VERY BADLY.

r11co said...

I saw this on my way to my local polling station...

http://s3.postimg.org/kfv8lk203/SDC18426.jpg

SNP activists playing to the lowest common denominator, and an act of total hypocrisy as it is not as if their replacement is going to be taking a pay-cut.

So, I prepared this riposte...

http://s30.postimg.org/uxh5mqrz5/fkn_loaded.jpg

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr George Laird

I think that it is time that you get into the political arena in Scotland. I believe that you should join one of the Unionist Parties whether it be the Conservative Party, Labour Party or Liberal Democratic Party and take over the control of one of them and run for the office of First Minister of Scotland. Scotland badly needs your wisdom and heroism to lead her out of the darkness of anti-English separatist fascism of the SNP. I believe that you are the best chance to save Scotland from a terrible and horrible fate at the hands of Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP. In my oppion you are one of the greatest Scotsman to have ever lived in the history of Scotland right up there with Alexander Graham Bell and Alexander Flemming and I believe that you do deserve to be knighted for yor service to human rights in Scotland and become Sir George Laird, I even believe that you deserve a peerage and become a Duke, Marquess or an Earl and be granted an estate. There should be statues of you throuhout Glassgow, Scotland and Great Britain for your good deeds. I consider you a Scottish and British hero in the same mold as General James Wolfe and Admiral Horatio Nelson. So please think about running to be a Member of the Scottish Parliament and hopefully the First Minister of Scotland. Scotland's Joly Fat Man (Alex Salmonde) and Unpopular (Nicola Sturgeon) will quake in their boots and will hiver in terror at the prospect of you entering the political scene in Scotland. I also think that you should run for the office of Prime Minister of Great Britain as well because you will be a great Prime Minister of Great Britain because of your fidelity, bravery and integrity.

God Bless you sir. I hope that you recover from your illness and get better because Scotland can't afford to loose you. You are in my prayers for your complete recovery to 100% health and live a happy and healthy life and see many decades ahead, you certainly deserve health and happiness for all your hardships that you seffered in the past several years.

Terry Summers said...

George,
Indyref2 is on the way. My Son lives in Stirling and told me last night that as he drove here he saw that a big Yes sign had been erected on the road out of Stirling.
There is already newspaper speculation on Cameron offering FFA in return for EVEL.
If the Union can stand the Damage of the next 5 years we might have a chance to start to climb back at GE 2020.
Cheers
Terry

G Laird said...

Dear Anon

I love your comic post.

George

G Laird said...

Hi Terry

“Indyref2 is on the way. My Son lives in Stirling and told me last night that as he drove here he saw that a big Yes sign had been erected on the road out of Stirling”.

I remember Adam Tomkins saying some time ago that he hoped that indyref 2 wouldn’t be coming down the pipeline. In response to that ditto I said to him, ‘best archive everything’ after indyref 1.

I said this in a Facebook group.

“There is already newspaper speculation on Cameron offering FFA in return for EVEL”.

Cameron doesn’t need to offer anything for EVEL, he just has to do it, I don’t agree with EVEL because there shouldn’t be two levels of MPs, each MP should have the same rights to vote as any other member.

“If the Union can stand the Damage of the next 5 years we might have a chance to start to climb back at GE 2020”.

David Cameron and the Conservatives played a clever game, in the short term, but the trouble with playing games is that politics isn’t a game. He will be off after this term of Parliament to something else, the Conservatives talked up the SNP threat in England and benefited from it.

As a by-product they wiped out Labour in Scotland, Labour had a bad campaign, as an outsider looking at it, I wrote this:

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/fucking-it-all-up-labour-leader-jim.html

Was I right?

When you involve yourself in tat instead of meaningful change is it any wonder why people despair. Labour stopped listening but I am sure they the message by the rude wake up from the electorate in Scotland.

George

G Laird said...

Hi R11co

The first poster looks illegal, as it has no party bumf on it such as an address or who it came from.

As to your pic, nice bit of photoshop, trying to learn that but still very much at the beginner stage.

George

Anonymous said...

As a life long labour voter in the Midlands I voted Conservative in the election.

I was disgusted with Nicola Sturgeon on the leadership debate pretty much dictating that she was going to install Ed Milliband as Prime Minister regardless even before a single vote was cast. As someone who is not even an MP and from a party that doesn't even stand candidates in England I ask who the f*** does she think she is?

Regardless of how the SNP have tried to spin the Conservatives majority I'll bet I'm not alone in this.

She may say she has a mandate in Scotland but David Cameron has a mandate for the United Kingdom. Scotland has lost influence in Westminster not gained it.

Hun fae Perth said...

Apologies for my long blethers George.

I truly feel saddened at the SNP result. I'm almost sickened to be Scottish. Sounds strange but I feel I have been betrayed personally by so many voters, who really have no idea what they have done and I feel they have betrayed our Britishness and stuck 2 fingers up at all those who sacrificed their lives to keep our islands free and in an operating democracy. All the SNP voters have now no longer voted for democracy. Yes it was conducted in a democratic manner but Nationalism never co exists with true democracy. It should never have been allowed politically to get to this possible non returnable state. That's Westminster's true failure. It's quite a frightening prospect we face and most are oblivious to the dreadful consequences.

The SNP have now only enhanced the notion of being a fascist organisation, like George and others have said for ages. There is no true opposition politics in Scotland. We have no choice but to follow what we are told to follow. To act like we are told to act. We now will have to do exactly what the SNP want. Salmond and Sturgeon are going to control our very existence. Imagine if the leaders were now strict Muslims? It is just one step away from change like you can only imagine. Winston Churchill and many others in history were more than correct in warning us about Islam.

To all the voters who were unsure but just voted for the SNP any way, can you honestly not see the similarity to Germany in the 1930's ? No laughing matter because it's how it all started. I don't mean that they will follow the same path as Hitler. That would be ridiculous. The policies affecting our everyday lives are the things under attack. If these idiots overwhelmingly control Holyrood in 2016 like the GE, we are going to separate into a true fascist state. If that happens then anything can happen and all bets are off.

We can stop this by clawing back Holyrood. How do we do it then George ?

Anonymous said...

The good news is that Salmond has opened his mouth. That is going to piss off a lot of people. If the SNP strategists had any sense, they would have selected someone else for Gordon seat.

Sturgeon wants more powers but not FFA. So once again spend without the responsibility.

Interesting point to note - the SNP only polled 50% of the votes. Given that a lot of "No" supporters would have voted SNP, it proves that the country is still split down the middle. That is why she will not commit to another referendum. They know if held within the next 5 years they will almost certainly lose.

Don Quixote said...

Mr Laird,
Time for you to get an understanding of the materiality, Jim Murphy's position is presently consummately untenable.
The Scottish Labour Party is a madhouse, in today’s BBC news the erstwhile East Kilbride Labour MSP and Scottish Parliament Minister Andy Kerr declared, his party were obliged to express regret for an "atrocious campaign". He also juxtaposed Mr Murphy's campaign to "dad-dancing in the most modern nightclub in the city of Glasgow".
Indeed, so repulsed is Andy Kerr with his one-time colleagues that he and his wife, Labour Councillor Susan Kerr, spent the entire evening at the South Lanarkshire election count thoroughly engaged with and enjoying the company of the SNP Victory Party.
With friends like these who needs enemies?
The Don

Anonymous said...

Scotland used to be known for educated people - what happened?

Anonymous said...

The quality of those MPs will be quickly shown up. London is a very big place, with a lot of very clever, able people. This lot are going to look like cringeful Neds.

G Laird said...

Dear Duncan

“Mr Laird,
Time for you to get an understanding of the materiality, Jim Murphy's position is presently consummately untenable”.

Where did you learn politics, the reason I ask is that you are talking bollocks!

“The Scottish Labour Party is a madhouse, in today’s BBC news the erstwhile East Kilbride Labour MSP and Scottish Parliament Minister Andy Kerr declared, his party were obliged to express regret for an "atrocious campaign".

I said that Labour was running a poor campaign in Feb:

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/fucking-it-all-up-labour-leader-jim.html

“He also juxtaposed Mr Murphy's campaign to "dad-dancing in the most modern nightclub in the city of Glasgow".

I have never considered Andy Kerr as some kind of mystic or guru, the ability to say it was wrong post disaster isn’t a talent, it is called use of speech, the talent is see it before it happens.

“Indeed, so repulsed is Andy Kerr with his one-time colleagues that he and his wife, Labour Councillor Susan Kerr, spent the entire evening at the South Lanarkshire election count thoroughly engaged with and enjoying the company of the SNP Victory Party”.

Everyone likes a free party; presumably it is how people like you get friends.

“With friends like these who needs enemies?”

The sad pathetic look on unpopular Nicola Sturgeon’s face says it all in my earlier post today, her cronies have gotten elected because Labour dropped the ball, but in some cases replacing competent Labour MPs with utter trash doesn’t and will not enhance Scotland’s representation.

No second independence referendum, no ability to change Westminster, the Yes 45 suckers are now waking up to the reality, they made Scotland weaker.

There is a real lack of talent in the SNP.

George