‘Better a nutter than a Nat’, Labour back off from trying to force Eric Joyce from Falkirk seat, if there is a by-election Labour Party would win it!

Dear All

After fighting all-comers in the House of Commons boozer, Eric Joyce got thrown a lifeline by Scottish Labour.

Labour isn’t prepared to risk a by-election by trying to force him out; actually, Labour shouldn’t be worried as the recent Greenock by-election showed.

Although the SNP made reasonable gains because of the Holyrood bounce, people still wanted a Labour person when it comes to going to the ‘big hoose’.

There was never any chance that Anne McLaughlin would have won that election in a million years.

You could argue why she was unacceptable but that really requires a separate post.

One Labour source quipped:

“They really would rather have a nutter in that seat than a Nat.”

Actually, the SNP is very good at doing by-elections, but in the case of Falkirk.

‘Any nat won’t do’.

Not even a hand picked middle class which proves to be so in vogue at SNP HQ.

Eric Joyce has gone to ground yesterday to let the heat die down as activists stepped up plans to deselect him as MP for Falkirk!

He remains suspended him, Labour are desperate to avoid a by-election in the seat, where they lead the SNP by just over 7000 votes.

It is too much effort for no gain and in the unlikely event of a loss, which I cannot envisage a real disaster, Labour at present wants a steady ship.

If Joyce is convicted or pleas guilty he can as an MP receiving a jail sentence of less than a year can continue to serve in Parliament, even though the party whip is removed.

And voting rights would be curtailed.

He can continue to draw his £65,738 salary, expenses and pension contributions as an independent MP until the next general election.

So, what should happen to Eric Joyce if convicted, well I would say that 12 weeks imprisonment, 280 hours of community service and a drink rehab programme would be just about right.

Commons sanctions should be put into effect as a separate matter.

At present Joyce has little sympathy from other Scottish Labour MPs, who felt he had tarnished their image.

Eh?

However, no condemnation of him from Scottish leader Johann Lamont’s office which is a mistake, she should be speaking up, but Lamont isn’t leader material. She will find that out soon enough if she doesn’t already know.

Labour’s official response came the way of was issued by UK deputy leader Harriet Harman, who said:

“He’s been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party and the Labour Party. If there’s a charge of assault, which there is, we regard it with the utmost seriousness.”

So says the woman who fled the scene of a car accident!

Joyce’s predecessor, Dennis Canavan, who was expelled from the Labour Party for standing as an independent for the Scottish parliament, said Joyce was not “a fit and proper person” to be an MP.

He said:

“This all speaks volumes about the way the Labour Party goes about selecting its candidates. I am saddened but not very surprised to hear about this latest incident. My sympathies lie with the people of Falkirk, not with Mr Joyce.”

Interestingly Tory backbencher Andrew Percy, one of those caught up in the fracas, tweeted yesterday that he felt “sorry” for Joyce.

Insisting he was “fine” after the incident, the Brigg and Goole MP added:

“I sort of feel sorry for him. People in a good place don’t act like that. That’s all I’ll tweet on it!”

Last night, a senior Labour MP said:

“Eric Joyce’s political career is over. Whatever the outcome of the court case, he is now a political pariah. People in the country may think it’s just an escapade but what happened was an outrage to Parliament. Many of us are amazed that he has never been deselected by his own constituency or taken off the candidates’ list by the party. It’s been a complete mystery why he has survived this long.”

Seems that Eric Joyce has a lot of fence building to do in several areas; funny that Tories seem have more sympathy for him than his own party.

However as I discovered recently, people in the Scottish National Party can be just as vile and nasty as Labour.

I am still waiting for SNP leader Alex Salmond to stand up for my rights as a working class member, the victim of an SNP smear campaign.

Salmond says he is fighting for Scotland, what a great pity that he only fights for the middle class.

If he keeps going on this course Alex Salmond will lose the working class vote in Scotland, his own working class activists are already deserting him, and they do the work.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University