Dear All
Labour has problems.
Lack of talent being one of them!
Jim Murphy has been approached by colleagues at Westminster to become Labour leader in Scotland.
That means he would stand for Holyrood five years down the line.
If he becomes Scottish Labour leader now, he would be ineffective because he can’t step onto the battle ground at Holyrood.
The Shadow Defence Secretary and former Scottish Secretary is being promoted as the most capable person to take on First Minister Alex Salmond and the SNP.
If he steps up to the plate, his first task is to revive Labour’s fortunes north of the Border.
Council elections are around the corner, so they take priority, especially in Glasgow if the SNP put up a strong challenge to win overall control of the Council.
One backbench MP says:
“He’s clearly the best man for the job.”
Adding:
“Alex Salmond did it, why not Jim Murphy?”
Jim Murphy isn’t Alex Salmond, he isn’t a new future, just a caretaker leader.
And Labour needs someone now in the Scottish Parliament.
They can’t wait politically for five years before Murphy sets foot in the Parliament.
So, they are stuck.
The only one left is Ken Macintosh; you can discard so many as duds, placemen and sheer rubbish.
One option being considered in the party review following Labour’s poor performance in the parliamentary elections is the creation of a distinct Scottish Labour Party leader.
That doesn’t solve the problem because there will be no distinct Scottish Labour Party.
Having different policies doesn’t solve the problem; it is deeper than that within Labour.
Labour has lost the trust of the people right across the board from the Councillor right through to the MSP and MP.
Labour is seen as incompetent on domestic issues, the bread and butter advocacy needed on the front line.
At present, the leader in Scotland is Ed Miliband.
Creating smoke and mirrors that there is a separate Labour leader in Scotland when there isn’t a separate party solves nothing.
It is a patch up but also a botch.
And the public won’t buy it.
Central Ayrshire MP Brian Donohoe said:
“Jim demonstrated as Secretary of State for Scotland that he was capable of winning the arguments against the Nationalists. If he threw his hat in the ring, it would be very difficult to stop him.”
Thomas Docherty, MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, said:
“I don’t think there should be any restrictions on someone becoming leader of the Scottish Labour Party. I would support Jim. He is a great debater and a great communicator and he could do the job of First Minister. He is a strong leader.”
Murphy isn’t a great debater; he has been around a long time so knows the ropes.
Labour at Holyrood is a talentless pool of relatives, researchers and placemen who have suddenly because of the list become MSPs.
The big hitters such as Frank McAveety and Andy Kerr got destroyed at the ballot box.
Murphy told The Herald:
“I have set my sights on trying to be a Cabinet minister in the next Labour Government and that’s all I am focused on.”
And you can understand why, Labour people in politics see the action taking place at Westminster.
Holyrood is regarded as a backwater.
Henry McLeish, the former Labour First Minister has called on his party’s MPs and MSPs to show “some mutual respect” and to represent “Scottish interests”.
He said:
“Far too often there has been a great deal of contempt heaped upon the Scottish Parliament, suggesting it’s a second-tier set-up that the good people go to Westminster. Quite frankly, after attending both parliaments, it is simply not the case.”
Whether the Labour Party wants to or not, they have to have a separate party and leader.
And that leader must be a Holyrood MSP.
Scottish political life is fixed at Holyrood.
And considering how bad the talent pool is, there is only one name.
Ken Macintosh.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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