Fate has dealt Duncan Hothersall a cruel hand over the last eighteen hours or so. Deep down, he probably always anticipated that mystery man Richard Leonard would take the Scottish Labour crown, bringing an end to the branch office's resistance to Corbynism. But the news about Kezia Dugdale....well, it's a real Ramsay MacDonald meets the Chuckle Brothers moment for poor Dunc, whose idiosyncratic vision of "International Socialism" now lies in tatters. He hasn't been seen on Twitter since the news broke, and many suspect he's pondering a new career as a Spanish public prosecutor - something he can really put his heart into.
Scottish Labour leadership election result:
Richard Leonard 56.7%
Anas Sarwar 43.3%
I'm trying to decide whether that margin of victory justified the extreme 7/1 odds on a Sarwar win. Probably not quite, although it looks like the result was never in that much doubt, in spite of what we had been led to believe.
I'll be completely honest about this - faced with the very limited options available to them, I think Labour have made the right choice (just for once). We've seen enough of Anas Sarwar over the years to know that he would have been a disaster area, and that no-one would have taken him seriously as a potential First Minister. I thought Leonard came across reasonably well in the STV debate with Sarwar - it sounded like he was actually thinking about his answers rather than reading from a script, which is quite rare in this day and age. If he can keep that up when debating with opponents from the SNP rather than his own party, he might do OK...but that's a big "if". He seems to have exactly the same irrational rage towards the SNP that all of his immediate predecessors have displayed.
I saw Christopher Silver say on Twitter earlier that the "pro-indy left" will have to drop their "instinctive dismissal" of Labour in the light of this result - well, that rather depends on how serious they are about the "pro-indy" part of the equation, doesn't it? Leonard seems to be an absolute dinosaur on the constitutional issue.
It'll be interesting to see what the significance is of Leonard putting off any decision about suspending Dugdale for a few days. The expectation that she's going to be cut adrift is now so strong that it'll be hard to pull back from that, but on the other hand a few days' grace will give her a chance to actually appear on the programme and mutter "for the many, not the few" as she devours assorted insects. Maybe we'll hear some waffly excuse about how they can't suspend someone who may have been unwise, but who is nevertheless "reaching out to young people".
If she does go, it'll mean that the people who were leader and deputy leader of Scottish Labour in late August will both no longer even be members of the party just three months later. A totally unprecedented state of affairs.
So a party which abets the colonial administration of our country thinks the best person to lead it should be a white settler? Its lucky we are such an inclusive country, many of the former colonies which have escaped English rule would have thought that was the straw to break the camel's back.
ReplyDeleteOld, white, male, public schoolboy from England sounds ideal to lead the branch office. He will ensure the restless natives know their place :)
ReplyDeleteNot surprised by the result though, it was Hobson's choice.
Yes, we get it: independence supporters hate English people. I have to admit the second post was an improvement, though. Much subtler. Almost believable.
ReplyDeleteI think such a kneejerk reaction belies a lack of awareness of the political situation in Scotland. The only people who "hate" anyone are a sub group of Unionists, who even hate the Saltire ( as I witnessed today on the bridges ), or people who do not share their religious affiliation or percentage of melanin. It is not unreasonable for a party which calls itself "Scottish" to have at its helm, in this period of constitutional flux, someone who is in touch with the mindset of Scots, rather than a public school educated representative of the colonial power. I hate no-one and suggest you withdraw that slur.
DeleteWhat slur! You only exist because you hate the English. You would sell Scotland's independence out to the EU unelected fascist beaurocracy because of your hatred. You nat sis are fascist by design. Go on say it, you hate the English.
DeleteI think such a kneejerk reaction belies a lack of awareness of the political situation in Scotland. The only people who "hate" anyone are a sub group of Unionists, who even hate the Saltire ( as I witnessed today on the bridges ), or people who do not share their religious affiliation or percentage of melanin. It is not unreasonable for a party which calls itself "Scottish" to have at its helm, in this period of constitutional flux, someone who is in touch with the mindset of Scots, rather than a public school educated representative of the colonial power. I hate no-one and suggest you withdraw that slur.
DeleteI still kinda suspect you're just trying to stir things up, but ok, I'll play: what makes RL a "white settler"?
I left the central belt in the 70's to live in Argyll and was considered to be a White Settler by the locals there.
DeleteAnother scoffing existentially unionist, imperialist and colonialist privately educated member of the bourgeoisie. Fracking, house of lords, royalty, PFI, Trident renewal and continued dumping of nuclear waste in Scotland are all things this man is in favour of. Anis, whilst I disagreed with his politics, was a smart bloke. This guy is an out and out cretin. London's man in Scotland.
ReplyDeleteKim Yung Eck is Scotlands man in Russia and collecting his wages in London.
DeleteOn what are you basing your claim that Sarwar is smart? He's certainly not very good at assembling sentences in real time, or at winning leadership elections despite having a financial advantage and the backing of the SLAB establishment.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to take joy in attacking spelling mistakes and people who do not meet your standards on artic u larcy. You should visit Fraserburgh Harbour and talk to the locals you nat si fool.
DeleteThe SNP have really been doing everything in their power to ensure that they are as unlikeable as possible at the moment. They're focusing on 'the day job', insofar as that can be defined as tweaking the law as it falls within 'devolved competence', rather than trying to win Scotland's independence so that the whole country can focus on the 'day job' with the enjoyment of full sovereign powers; the first thing that they did on being elected was mandate the mutilation of puppies and now, after five+ years of trying, they're celebrating the insurance that now poor people won't be able to enjoy a good drink and loudly trumpeting the fact that they've made sure, beyond reasonable doubt, that only those on middle incomes or above should be able to enjoy alcohol... Honestly, I despair.
ReplyDeleteThe only way that voting SNP could remain an attractive prospect, at the moment, would be if SLab were foolish enough to elect Sarwar as their leader. As is, Scottish Labour actually look both credible and reasonable, being a left wing - by which I mean interested in 'fairness' - alternative to Mayhem and her pathetic band of Brexiteers. By dint of being in opposition, rather than government, and by dint of not being the Tory party, it's quite possible that a Leonard-led SLab could form an administration in Holyrood.
Leonard is untested, yes, but good word has Sturgeon's leadership, at this point, screwed over the majority of those who support independence and self-governance. With everything coming out of the Scottish Government at the moment, one might believe that the SNP care only about ensuring a soft Brexit, rather than preventing Scotland from leaving the EU at all. It's shite and, as an ardent supporter of Scottish independence I have to say that I am honestly not sure what to do at this point; I understand that a vote for Slab will be taken as a vote against independence, but really I don't trust Sturgeon's SNP to make the requisite push for independence that is required in the midst of all this Brexit shite.
Brexit is reality which does not seem to have entered your heid... The Nat sis do not want a good Brexit agreement as they do no give shit for anything except nationalism and alleged independence..
DeleteA so called bad Brexit could mean a mass immigration of Scots.
The nat si Nationalist Pravda says May has two weeks to conform to the wishes of the EU. This will not happen.. If the EU only offer threats and do not wish to do a fair deal then we are on our way out. It will be WTO rules. Britain will not be a Greece or a limp threatened compliant Ireland.
DeleteYou seem very pessimistic. Have you not seen the following from the Scottish Government programme since being elected ?
Increase in free childcare.
Scottish national investment bank.
Scottish national energy company.
Potential people's income.
To name but a few?
What do you mean by free? Someone pays surely! Who pays into the national investment bank? Is the energy company nationalised?!
DeleteWho pays for the potential! Peoples income. Nat si rhetoric as usual which is forgotten.
Some good points! The SNP are very lucky that every other major party is currently in total disarray. SLAB under RL is undoubtedly going to be attractive to soft-Yes lefties from the SNP.
DeleteForming an actual administration seems a long shot, though. Apart from the unprecedented electoral surge which would be required, they're also likely now to leak further "centrists" to the Tank Commander Party. And this:
It's shite and, as an ardent supporter of Scottish independence I have to say that I am honestly not sure what to do at this point
Are you saying that you're considering voting for SLAB now? That seems rather odd if one of your major problems with the SNP is that they're too weak on independence and Brexit: they're certainly much keener on the former, and less keen on the latter, than Corbyn's Labour.
I would reckon that the centrist diaspora has finished for now. Centrists who believe in independence are roundly with the SNP, others are roundly with the Vote Ruth Davidson for a Strong No Surrendering Ruth Davidson party.
DeleteForming an administration is certainly a long shot, I'll admit that, but breaking the pro-independence majority of Holyrood is now a certainty, I fear. Yet there is still a real sense of complacency about when, precisely, a referendum can be called.
Sturgeon should be hammering on May's door every day, adding her voice to all those others who are putting pressure on her administration and making plain that the woman is a complete incompetent with no clue how to run the country. Nay, more than that, Sturgeon should be pointing out, at all hours of the day, that not only is May utterly useless, but the entire British State has made a complete arse of itself and no-one within the upper echelons of power has any chance of improving the situation. Sturgeon is failing the people of Scotland at this point.
I didn't mean to imply that I'm considering a vote for SLab, but am I considering not bothering to turn out at the next election? Aye; and there's the rub. The SNP managed to be the unstoppable machine that it was in 2015 because it convinced disaffected people like me that, by voting SNP, we could actually stick one up the shitter of the Westminster establishment - and for a while, that did seem to be true. Since the 2017 election though, independence just isn't mentioned and if independence isn't mentioned, the establishment remains content. Honestly, have you watched how smug those Tory fuckers were during their conference? Everything else is going to shit, but at least Scotland's back in its box!
In those circumstances, circumstances in which the SNP is just a British political party like any other, I can completely see why many of the people who voted yes in the hope of a better country in the here and now would prefer a Leonard-led government to Sturgeon's SNP.
I don't know anything about the new "leader" of the Branch. I saw he got himself helicoptered in to a factory to show how he'd saved it from closure - fast work, fast leader. Impressive. I think we're now in the last days of Labour. Goodbye - it hasn't been a pleasure. You have betrayed ordinary people for ALL of your existence.
ReplyDeleteIsobel no doubt you have been a great contributer to Scottish society and yet I have never heard of you.
DeleteThe new Scottish investment bank to be called the Jock Credit Union will be run by Kim Yung Ecks hero Fred the Shred...
ReplyDeleteenjoyed your analysis, James and I agree .... Leonard is spouting the same old " no arrangements with the SNP" tripe. Well "same old, same old" from SLAB ... as far as I can see it's just "Corbyn will get us through ... vote Labour" I guess we wait for what Scotland see's in the new Messiah (Branch Manager)
ReplyDelete@keaton
ReplyDeleteI'm an independence supporter and I don't hate English people. In fact I spent years living in England (and, to boot, my family are from Northern Ireland).
I suggest you don't generalise.
My post was a comment on the two above it, which looked to me designed to perpetuate the idea that independence supporters are anti-English.
DeleteI can't speak for the first post but mine was simply to point the irony of the situation. I have no issue with Leonard being English.
DeleteLeonard turned up at Methil to claim Labour had stopped the BiFab shutdown, so lying is the continuing policy of Labour in Scotland. There was a photo then he left.
ReplyDeleteShould add, Leonard and Silver are still stuck in old politics, neither of them have a plan for Brexit and or when Tories are in charge again.
DeleteBut both represent the stultified thinking of Labour where they 'fight the good fight', where lots of talk happens.
The danger for voters if they are influenced and have Labour they would be stuck with the people who haven't thought of the solutions and can't carry through the solutions others have come up with.
The plan for Brexit is to leave the EU. Simple... Just what the majority voted for.
DeleteGWC2's lot the Muppets that keep on giving SLAB Ha Ha Ha Your Tea's no even ready yet and it's oot!
DeleteYer Maw had you in her oven ya wee bun. You nat sis dread us muppet Unionists.. We do not tolerate fascists and will turn tae at the Pollin Stn tae screw you fash zimmer an awe.
DeleteI truly despair at people thinking that Leonard or liebour in Scotland hold ANY socialist principles, this is a party that for at least the last 80 years have accepted the trope that Scots don't have the intelligence or acuity to run their own country.
ReplyDeleteThey colluded with the brutish nationalists to hide reports under secrecy laws to hide Scotland 's true wealth
They colluded with the brutish nationalists to STEAL parts of Scotland 's coastline
They colluded with the brutish nationalists to scupper devolution the first time
They colluded with brutish nationalists to LIE about the vow then further colluded with brutish nationalists to BLOCK any real powers
I could go on and on with examples of the lies , corruption and denigration visited on the citizens of this country by these socialist fraudsters , but I sincerely hope people will awaken their memory banks realise the devastation these charlatans have foisted on us and consign them to their rightful place in the dustbin of history
I am 66 and am ashamed to say I voted liebour most of my adult life but I will never vote for this brutish nationalist cabal of incompetents ever again
So ya wee knob you vote for the capitlist Putin luvvin Jock nat sis now.
Delete66 so you are probably collecting the new British pension if you ever worked for a living that is.
DeleteMary Doll and Pat Kane met with the Nat sis at a Scottish Independence Convention recently and still do not get why us British vote for the Union.
ReplyDeleteAnd you nat sis are putting out the line that the British negotiations with the EU are failing although that is what you want as some excuse to call a referendum and then join the EU to give your independence away.. The reason the EU negotiations will probably fail is the government will not give the corrupt EU any more money than they are due.
The fact is is that the negotiations ensuing are not known to anyone except the negotiators.. We British are desperate for another referendum so we can trash you nat sis again. Most of you are foreigners and have no Scottish blood. Up yer Kilts false Jocks.
Aye right, you are as British as Borscht. Only a Kremlimbot pro-Brexit troll would mangle the English language the way you do.
DeleteMa maw used a mangle tae wring oot the washin.
DeleteIt is now clear that the Jocko Nat sis are EU Quislings and want to sell Scotland out to their Herman and Frog masters who run the EU. The Nat sis must be resisted by any means. They are not Scots.
ReplyDelete