A rather squalid little plot, Scottish Labour Richard Leonard shrugs off Blairitie plot to make him resign as four of his MSPs tell him to go, the right wing of the Labour Party is entirely responsible for the demise and collapse of the Scottish Labour vote, Leonard needs to remove the whip and deselect those disloyal MSPs to help other people focus their minds

Dear All

It is good to be back, covid has certainly thrown a spanner into the blogging which was rather unfortunate, but that’s life, full of obstacles. There were a ton of stories that I would like to have covered but due to lack of proper internet access, cost and relying on the kindness of others providing equipment, I was snookered. Hopefully now, as thoughts turn towards Holyrood 2021, I would like to start back with a blog on the internal war within Scottish Labour. If you are even a casual reader, you will have spotted that the right wing of Scottish Labour wants to get rid of Richard Leonard.

His crime is not being part of what people commonly refer to as the Blairities!

Recently, James Kelly MSP wrote to Richard Leonard to resign from his team, he said in his resignation letter:

“I am writing today to resign from my position as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice. I spoke to you in your office 3 weeks ago about my concerns for the party’s prospects in the 2021 Scottish Parliament Elections. I outlined my view that to reverse the party's decline it was necessary for you to resign as leader. You responded by saying you wished to remain in post as you believed you could reverse our poor position in the polls. In the past 3 weeks, I have watched your performance closely. The position of the party continues to decline not improve. Recent polling shows Scottish labour support at an unacceptably low level of 14%”.

Since, his letter, others all from the right wing have come forward to also call for Richard Leonard to resign, this drip drip effect tactic was used against Jeremy Corbyn. One of those who have joined James Kelly is Mark Griffin, a former social security spokesman at Holyrood, he is a list MSP. What is remarkable about Mark Griffin is nothing, nothing at all, in fact despite watching the political scene in Scotland, I have never heard of him. This, I would say says a lot about his impact and input into reversing the fortunes of Scottish Labour.

I want you to focus on two quotes, one from James Kelly and the other from Mark Griffen.

James Kelly:

“In addition, your personal ratings are particularly low. More than half of the public have no opinion on you and you have a negative rating even among our own supporters”.

Now, Mark Griffen:

“Your personal approval ratings are extremely concerning; less than half of the voting public know who you are, a majority of those who do have a negative opinion of your leadership and a majority of Scottish Labour voters have a negative opinion of your leadership.”

What you are looking at it is the order of what is being said, in fact, some people might look at both texts, would possibly get a sense that there is an organised plot to get rid of Richard Leonard. I was struck by the fact that both Kelly and Griffen were saying the exact same things in the exact same order. It could be that both Kelly and Griffen are geniuses with a remarkable grasp of the English language, who came to the same conclusions and expressed them in more or less the exact same way.

I however would say as a lay person, I am not buying into them being geniuses.

What I find rather rich is that the people who ran the Scottish Labour Party into the ground having held the leadership positions prior to Leonard, all came from the right wing of the party. These people are why the Scottish public abandoned the party and gave their votes to the SNP. They squandered the goodwill of the people, they squandered their votes, they ignored the people, and they proved useless and ineffective in solving people’s problems. If I was to encapsulate what they did when they got elected to people, who came for help, I can think of no better expression than;

‘they never gave a fuck’!

Instead of Scottish Labour being pro-active to cull these people off much in the same way that a gardener prunes a rose bush, it was left to the public to do the job. The public rather than pruning simply ripped out the entire bush and threw it on the rubbish heap. The lack of due diligence by the leadership of Scottish Labour came to light in 2007, normally their vote was so strong, but in subsequent elections, failure to cull and failure to organise kept the party from making progress. 2007 to 2011 were key years of extreme inactive by Labour MSPs at Holyrood which accelerated decline.

Richard Leonard isn’t to blame for the demise of Scottish Labour, he just finds himself in the deep hole which was created by others over the last 20 years. Leonard also finds himself in the position that others don’t accept him as leader. Don’t accept him as leader, and don’t want to work with him to right the party. Clearly the party is in serious trouble, not just in terms of election results but also in terms of how it operates. What did those from the Blairite camp do to fix the party? They have done nothing!

And they will continue to do nothing while Richard Leonard is leader.

If you were to come to an opinion of what has happened in Scottish Labour, you might say that the right wing of the party, some of whom are Labour staffers, members of various party bodies, list MSPs and of course our sole MP would rather see the SNP win elections. They would rather see the Scottish Labour Party lose with Leonard in charge, just as long as they were returned as paid elected officials biding their time. Since they have no threat of loss, they will continue to be part of the problem and none of the solution. As 2021 gets nearer, the party must adapt because covid among other things forces it too. Activism in communities needs to restart immediately; a new campaigning model needs to be put in place to make up for, and to generate interest in the party. Policies need to be developed that appeal to the public, not a xmas wish list, but an agenda for a credible government in waiting.

So, what are James Kelly, Jenny Marra, Daniel Johnston and Mark Griffen, they are a poor man’s four horsemen of the apocalypse, they are puppets for someone else pulling their strings. Roman history teaches us that those who plotted and stabbed Caesar couldn’t ascend to the throne. But that wouldn’t stop them getting shadow cabinet positions, the tricky problem remains that the right wing needs Richard Leonard to step down voluntarily, in that way, they feel they can make a pitch for party unity. Given that Leonard isn’t interested, the plotters have failed and it could be said overreached themselves.

I am neither in the camps of the left or the right of the party, so sitting on the fence gives me a bird’s eye view, which is why I noticed the similarity in the resignation letters of Kelly and Griffen as mentioned above. One thing the right wing of the Scottish Labour Party aren’t, are ‘moderates’; this is a lie portrayed in the friendly press. The right wing thinks they are ‘managers’ of the people, not representatives. They live under in the delusion that there will be a return to the good old days of huge Labour majorities; but that landscape doesn’t exist anymore.

So, what to do to turn around Scottish Labour, well years ago, I said, there should be a cull, but just as that suggestion has merit, more is needed. List MSPs need to get an incentive to work to keep their jobs. It is clear that a rule changes are needed so that no serving list MSP can serve two consecutive terms before being automatically forced to stand down. The exception to this rule would be for the leader and deputy only. Bring in this rule will force list MSPs to rebuild the party in constituencies because if not, they will see financial loss. It will force list MSPs to come to the conclusion of the need to work with others outside of their politic preference to stay in office.

I have no problem with Richard Leonard has suggesting the MSPs trying to oust him could be deselected ahead of the Holyrood election. In fact, my surprise is how long it has taken him to step up and grasp the nettle. He is right that the rebels may not be “the best people to stand for the Labour party in the elections next year”. In fact, he should be laying out his plans to remove the whip from them in a very public matter.

He said:

“If any party representative thinks an internal faction fight is more important than this agenda, then they will have to answer to party members and the voters whom we serve”. 

Leonard is the Scottish Labour’s ninth Holyrood leader, but he has been undermined, as to the plotters, what is their post unity plan? It doesn’t exist because as long as they draw a salary, then its ‘fuck the workers, I have got a foreman’s job’. Recent polls indicate Labour heading for a third bad election next year. The party’s standing is at just 14 per cent in the polls. As to Richard Leonard, he needs extensive media training, he needs a new image, he needs rebranding and he needs to get a better team round him.

Scottish labour lost both its MEPs and six of its seven MPs in elections last year. Was that the fault of Richard Leonard? The answer was no, Scottish Labour was on the wrong side of the debate on Brexit, and still is, as to the loss of the six MPs back down to one, well they used the discredited Labour model of doing things. As much as I hark on about a new campaigning model for the party, it has to extend and encompass all political representation in an area. A Return the ethos of John Smith, a return to the ethos of Nye Bevan and the ethos and intellect of Tony Benn is long overdue. Tony Benn said something which is worth mentioning;

“What power have you got?”

“Where did you get it from?”

“In whose interests do you use it?”

“To whom are you accountable?”

“How do we get rid of you?”

These questions need to be put to Leonard’s plotters, because they need a wake up call to remind them of the big picture and how fragile their financial future is.

Finally, the idea that a plot at this part of the election cycle would be worthwhile is mind boggling. If the plotters got their wish and either Jackie Baillie or Anas Sarwar took over, it would make no difference. People aren’t voting Labour because the right wing isn’t in charge of the party. Scottish people stopped voting Labour because the right wing was in charge of the party. Scottish Labour needs to do what happened to Labour Cllrs prior to the 2012 election, re-vetted by a panel which focuses on their work and their record of activism. A cull is needed, whether Richard Leonard has the leadership ability to force this through will be a real test of his leadership. Personally, I would have no problem removing the whip from all four MSPs; then let them stew on the backbenches to help focus minds of others.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University