More Fuel for the Scottish Labour Fire; Scottish Labour Party is in fresh turmoil as general secretary Brian Roy dramatically quits, tipped to replaced him in the top job is Tommy Kane who is Jeremy Corbyn's political adviser on Scotland, does Tommy Kane know the ‘Corbyn revolution’ needs to be put on hold if he becomes Gen Sec in order to fix the party as a campaigning vehicle?

Dear All

They say there is never a dull moment in politics, and after John McDonnell’s brick in the puddle sent ripples in Scottish Labour, a side effect is the resignation of Brian Roy as the party’s general secretary. Roy has a Labour pedigree being the son of former MP Frank Roy, and had been in post for five years as the party’s most senior official. Brian Roy was appointed general secretary by the then Scottish leader Jim Murphy; he was regarded as a safe pair of hands.

However the last few days have been a testing time for the party as shadow chancellor John McDonnell said a UK Labour government would not block Indyref2. McDonnell clears knows nothing about the political landscape of Scotland, the players and what is going on at ground level. He probably doesn’t even grasp what the major problems that face Scottish Labour which need to be addressed.

And haven’t.

What John McDonnell did was completely undermined the entire Scottish Labour Party and their credibility. McDonnell’s foolhardy statement flatly contradicted the position of Scottish labour leader Richard Leonard, who said in March that a Labour government would block Indyref2.

This intervention was a ‘Ratner’s’ moment for Scottish Labour, McDonnell effectively said the Scottish Party didn’t really count because they could do a deal with the SNP. The party was undermined, the prospective MP candidates were undermined and the entire Labour Group at Holyrood including the leader were effectively shredded. 

You remember what the Ratner’s moment was?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ratner_moment

In real terms, what McDonnell did was far worse than Kezia Dugdale’s ‘I could vote for independence’ gaffe.

Brian Roy being caught in the middle of the chaos probably thought to himself, enough is enough, with bad polling, now this nonsense and the lack of direction of the party, he probably felt swamped. Sometimes, you need to step away from something, just to keep your sanity intact. When you are working hard and others are working against you, you see all your work failing to bear fruit, its rather soul destroying.

A source said staff at Scottish Labour HQ in Glasgow learned of the development this morning.

They said:

“It’s not a complete surprise. There had been speculation that the Scottish leadership wanted him out. But there is still a degree of upset. I think it has blindsided a lot of people. My understanding is that there will be a statement later today.”

What probably caught many people on the hop is that Brian Roy is understood to be a strong supporter of Jeremy Corbyn.

So who is next in line for Scottish General Secretary, one person said to be tipped is Tommy Kane. Tommy Kane is Jeremy Corbyn's political adviser on Scotland. If you want to get a sense of him here are a couple of links.

https://twitter.com/tommykane3?lang=en

And here is an interesting Daily Mail story.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4503730/Calamity-Corbyn-s-MI5-s-fault-says-leader-s-aide.html

A Labour source said of Tommy Kane’s musings:

‘The idea that MI5 needs to spend time undermining Corbyn when he is doing such a good job of it by himself is frankly laughable.’

Having a sense of humour is okay, ‘reds under the bed’ or ‘MI5 in the closet’ isn’t. One interesting fact which I picked up is that Tommy Kane had worked for Neil Findlay’s office which also worked part-time as Jeremy Corbyn’s advisor on Scotland.  If Kane gets the job, he will have to put the Corbyn Revolution on hold because the Scottish Labour Party is in pieces. And making Scottish Labour Party function better as a campaigning vehicle should be the first priority.

Pity Brian Roy left, he wasn’t a bad general secretary from what I could tell, but like everything in life, there is a shelf life, Brian Roy decided he had reach his in this job.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University