Jim Murphy

[Ad Lib]

It actually beggars belief that this is the first campaign leaflet from any of the unionist parties that doesn't ostracise 50% of the population!

I consciously toned down and chucked most of the stump stuff from the Election Communication template. Some of it I could tell straight away would send the 37% or so of folk voting Yes in East Ren running for the hills. I certainly wasn't going to waste time parroting lines disproportionately likely just to benefit Jim among the remainder of the electorate.

[Colkitto]

Watching Politics Scotland just now, a labour mp clarifying that Jim Murphy will run for first minister next year as well as stating he will be a westminster mp for 5 years. Is this possible? Has he been questioned on this? Surely to f**k he can't do both and even if it is possible, surely there is no way he can capably fulfil both rules. Especially as he cannot competently run the scottish labour branch.

Unreal

So what happens if he is an MP for East Renfrewshire and a MSP for somewhere else in Scotland? Being a MP & MSP for two full parliamentary terms in two different constituencies is taking a brass neck to a whole new level.

[madwullie]

Looks like daggers are starting to be drawn

It just shows you though. A man can turn a 3 point deficit into a 35 point one. That is truly astounding.

James Francis Murphy - The saviour of the union we salute you

To be completely fair, a blind man could have seen this coming. The vast vast majority of those who voted Yes were always going to vote SNP. Even with, say "just" 40% of the vote in this GE, there would be a huge increase in the amount of seats they would win.

Alongside the ridiculous FPTP system and Labour's tactics during the referendum, a result like the one the polls suggest could happen next week was pretty much guaranteed. Murphy might be sub-human scum, but I'm not sure Lamont would have fared much better. She left the sinking ship at the perfect moment (for her).

It's not a huge leap to suggest it was a masterstroke to call the referendum so close to a GE. Especially considering we knew five years ago exactly when this GE would be.

[Kyle]

I consciously toned down and chucked most of the stump stuff from the Election Communication template. Some of it I could tell straight away would send the 37% or so of folk voting Yes in East Ren running for the hills. I certainly wasn't going to waste time parroting lines disproportionately likely just to benefit Jim among the remainder of the electorate.

Fighting a campaign on your own merits and with integrity?

It wont catch on.

(...You might even get my vote if you stand next year in the list... but don't tell anyone)

[~~~]

Watching Politics Scotland just now, a labour mp clarifying that Jim Murphy will run for first minister next year as well as stating he will be a westminster mp for 5 years. Is this possible? Has he been questioned on this? Surely to f**k he can't do both and even if it is possible, surely there is no way he can capably fulfil both rules. Especially as he cannot competently run the scottish labour branch.

Unreal

Didn't they used to try and hammer Salmond for being both a MP and a MSP at the same time?

[SlipperyP]

So what happens if he is an MP for East Renfrewshire and a MSP for somewhere else in Scotland? Being a MP & MSP for two full parliamentary terms in two different constituencies is taking a brass neck to a whole new level.

No a problem for oor Jum, he's a man of the people, working families etc He'll just do double time & work Sundays

[welshbairn]

I think the Rev Paisley was collecting salaries from Stormont, Westminster and Brussels for a while.

[FuzzyAffro]

I consciously toned down and chucked most of the stump stuff from the Election Communication template. Some of it I could tell straight away would send the 37% or so of folk voting Yes in East Ren running for the hills. I certainly wasn't going to waste time parroting lines disproportionately likely just to benefit Jim among the remainder of the electorate.

Yeah you just insult half the electorate on here instead and lie about Brown going rogue and BT telling you this.

[Thumper]

Not overly surprising from the left leaning Guardian

The Grauniad's fig-leaf liberalism is nothing compared to their support for the British state. They've called for Scots to vote SLab.

[Granny Danger]

Watching Politics Scotland just now, a labour mp clarifying that Jim Murphy will run for first minister next year as well as stating he will be a westminster mp for 5 years. Is this possible? Has he been questioned on this? Surely to f**k he can't do both and even if it is possible, surely there is no way he can capably fulfil both rules. Especially as he cannot competently run the scottish labour branch.

Unreal

I think it's a moral dilemma that he won't have to face when he's oot on his erse on 8 May.

[welshbairn]

I consciously toned down and chucked most of the stump stuff from the Election Communication template. Some of it I could tell straight away would send the 37% or so of folk voting Yes in East Ren running for the hills. I certainly wasn't going to waste time parroting lines disproportionately likely just to benefit Jim among the remainder of the electorate.

Do you get any stick from the party for arguing against the renewal of Trident? I think the Lib Dem policy is to order 3 subs instead of 4, which seems a bit daft to me, it wouldn't save a lot, nowhere near a quarter of the budget, and it would only make the "deterrent" value marginally less convincing.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

So what happens if he is an MP for East Renfrewshire and a MSP for somewhere else in Scotland? Being a MP & MSP for two full parliamentary terms in two different constituencies is taking a brass neck to a whole new level.

Salmond did both IIRC. Perfectly possible for Jum to do both.

[Granny Danger]

Salmond did both IIRC. Perfectly possible for Jum to do both.

Salmons did, and got absolute pelters from Scottish Labour who called it all sorts of disgraceful. Can't see them being so hypocritical.... oh wait.... yes I can.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

Do you get any stick from the party for arguing against the renewal of Trident? I think the Lib Dem policy is to order 3 subs instead of 4, which seems a bit daft to me, it wouldn't save a lot, nowhere near a quarter of the budget, and it would only make the "deterrent" value marginally less convincing.

3 subs not 4 is the epitomy of Lib Dem policy. A big pile of nothing pitched as the middle road and pretending to challenge the status quo.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

Salmons did, and got absolute pelters from Scottish Labour who called it all sorts of disgraceful. Can't see them being so hypocritical.... oh wait.... yes I can.

I wasn't bothered by it but then I wasn't his constituent. How many WM votes did he turn up for while First Minister? It was pretty obvious he wouldn't give up his Westminster seat to lead the opposition in Holyrood. If the 2007 result had been only one seat the other way Scotland could be a very different place.

Jim is doing the same thing. No way he comes to the Scottish parliament to lead the opposition. He would resign as leader and slink back to Westminster. I'm not offended by the idea of him doing and certainly not disgraceful but quite correct to point out the hypocracy of Scottish Labour.

Of course this is all based on the premise of Jim retaining his seat next week...

[AberdeenBud]

To be fair to him, it looks like Jim was correct about the polls breaking "big and late".

[Dunning1874]

A refeshing change of tack from oor Jum, when asked about the poll. Oh, wait...

Commenting on the poll result, Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy said: "This is another bad poll for the Scottish Labour party, it’s another good poll of course for the SNP, and it’s another fantastic poll for the David Cameron.

"David Cameron can’t beat the Labour party here in Scotland, so someone else has to do it for him.

"That way David Cameron gets to cling on to power because he’s the leader of the biggest party, the likelihood is David Cameron will remain Prime Minister, not because Scotland went out and voted for the Tory party but because Scotland voted against Labour for the SNP and reduced the chances of Labour forming the government.

"There’s much still to play for in this election a week’s a long time in politics and we’ll keep going with a huge amount of energy and a determination to turn much of this round."

Interviewed on Sky News, he said: "Let the pollsters poll & let the voters vote next week."

So basically 'If you're not with us, you're one of them.'

Scottish Labour really are the Rangers of politics and I can't wait for them to be as dead as their footballing counterparts.

[John Lambies Doos]

If the 2007 result had been only one seat the other way Scotland could be a very different place.

...

Massive statement this. If labour had won that extra seat and formed a minority gov, they would potentially have upped their seat count in 2011 in voter defiance to the 2010 WM Tory/Fib Dem coalition. Thus no indy ref, no informed electorate and more of the same Labour pish at this GE.

By winning that extra seat SNP, although in minority, proved they could run a very competent Gov.... and the rest is history

That 1 seat will be talked about in many years time.... as an enormously significant moment in Scottish politics.

[LongTimeLurker]

I think the Rev Paisley was collecting salaries from Stormont, Westminster and Brussels for a while.

Nothing illegal about double jobbing in a Westminster context. I think Murphy's problem is that it isn't clear that he is allowed under Labour rules to be "leader" if he is not a parliamentarian and that meant he had to stand to keep his status on that, which I seriously doubt he expected (as now appears likely) to be in any serious danger of losing. If he loses, he is history. No way can he bounce back from a near or complete wipeout. It would be a Portillo moment.

[FuzzyAffro]

Nothing illegal about double jobbing in a Westminster context. I think Murphy's problem is that it isn't clear that he is allowed under Labour rules to be "leader" if he is not a parliamentarian and that meant he had to stand to keep his status on that, which I seriously doubt he expected (as now appears likely) to be in any serious danger of losing. If he loses, he is history. No way can he bounce back from a near or complete wipeout. It would be a Portillo moment.

Lets be honest it clearly should be illegal. Any one of them is, or should be, a full-time job. So to hold more than one at the same time means you couldn't possibly be devoting enough time and energy to either. You should only be allowed to hold one at a time.