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New Scottish Labour Leader


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Press conference arranged tomorrow at 11am.

Looks like Jim will be gone.

Looking at the list of MSP and that 1 MP, I can't see anyone who would give me confidence to take over, the fact they all seem to rate Dugdale speaks volumes about how much of a shambles that branch office is

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Dugdale is out of her depth as deputy; there's no way she is capable of the rebuilding role that SLab will be looking to do.

Mind you I have no sympathy for their predicament they brought it upon themselves.

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You can normally tell from the reaction of opposition goons how they feel about someone. So from that point of view, the NCC are a bit worried about Murphy. It will be the first time that Labour have had a leader with any ability whatsoever since Dewars days and they have an untried leader themselves as well as losing the one politician they had who was actually fairly able.

rofl

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One benefit of Murphy leaving for them is that they will be able to ditch Dugdale by holding the new leadership election. In the Holyrood 2007 and 2011 elections some of their most able politicians were voted out in the constituency section to be replaced by local councillor level talent from the regional lists, so don't think they have any easy answers.

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They need someone to actually wage war on the Westminster party and pull them to the left. If they are pro-establishment in any way, they have no chance.

Candidates

Ian Murray - Only surviving Scottish MP. Can't see them risking him losing his seat for this.

Kezia Dugdale - Young and associated with Murphy; nae chance.

Neil Findlay - Runner up to Jim Murphy in the recent leadership race. Left wing of the party and at odds with the main party on many issues. In reaction to a Conservative government and the SNP booting Labour for not being left enough, he is probably the favourite. Will be favourable to a break up of sorts with the UK party which is favourable.

Sarah Boyack - Similar to Neil Findlay in many ways but doesn't have trade union support. Don't think she's tenacious enough on some issues and less well known.

Katy Clark - Just turfed out of her constituency of North Ayrshire and Arran. Voted against the party on some things and a bit more left wing than they would like her to be. Seems like she has the beliefs to move the party left but it's just a case of seeing if she'll be happy to do that while waging war on the UK party.

Anas Sarwar - No lolz.

Jackie Baillie - Too bitter and anti SNP to win IMO. Don't think she'd even manage to hide it a little.

Jenny Marra - Got a role and isn't really that divisive but she's got to go with the tide but I see her as a bit junior at this stage to gain the support of her party in doing anything radical.

My prediction is Neil Findlay-Katy Clark leadership team.

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I was gonna suggest Ian Murray but (a) I think they'll want an MSP and (b) He was really only elected on rUK expat student vote

Looking at their MSPs, I've never even heard of most of them

Neil Findlay who ran against Murphy?

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I was gonna suggest Ian Murray but (a) I think they'll want an MSP and (b) He was really only elected on rUK expat student vote

No chance of him becoming party leader in Scotland but Ian Murray was probably voted in by hordes of Jambos, plus he does sound like a genuinely ok guy.

from wiki...

Personal life

Murray lives with his long-term partner Hannah.[8] He supports Edinburgh football team Hearts and is chair of the Foundation of Hearts, a bid by a fans' group to buy the club out of administration.[9]

Pretty usre hes on their board aswell.

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My advice for the new leader, whoever it is:

1. Scottish Labour need to unhitch themselves from London. See it more like the Irish do with the SDLP. If they can think of a name change that isn't cheesy then that too is advisable (but New Labour seems to have fucked that up for them). I think this can be done without a conversion to supporting independence - but it shouldn't be treated as the nightmare scenario it is now.

2. I suggest all future candidates should be new and not in any way tarred with the brush of the old guard. Put them all out to grass. The 20 year old girl winning for the SNP in Paisley is symbolic of what Scottish Labour needs right now. A whole new clean slate. Real people and fresh ideas.

3. A much closer alignment with the SNP is needed. Opposing them for the sake of it is one of the reasons why they're in this mess. They need to accept that the SNP have a lot of good policies and these should be supported. This will shepherd in a new kind of politics, which is their only hope. Any continuation of the adversarial nonsense will see them lose and lose again.

These policies might give the SNP an easy ride for a few years but in my opinion there is no quick fix. They need to play the long game - and gradually win back the trust and respect of the Scottish people. This will not be done with fancy gimmicks, wonder policies or catchy slogans. Back to their roots whilst looking to the future is their only hope. At some point the SNP will hit major difficulties but Labour need to be in a position to take advantage.

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Kezia's a chomp so will hopefully get her jotters too.

Murray seems like one of the good guys - anti Trident I believe.

If Scottish Labour wants to make any kinda of recovery, they need to break away from the UK Party, have it's own policies and one such as voting against Trident renewal would be a good thing

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did anyone see murray being interviewed by the guy in the bbc scot studio this morning? I only tuned in half way through and murray looked like he was absolutely raging at a question, eyes bulging and looked like he would have stuck the nut on the interviewer if they were in the same room :lol: looked like classic angry small man syndrome to me. could get interesting if the pressure was on him :lol:

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f**k Labour. We don't need them. Let them die. Have anyone who is actually serious (i.e. not associated with the failed sell outs their party is now) form a new party if they want to stand in Scotland. Lib Dems should do the same. Start over. They couldn't worse than they did last night

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did anyone see murray being interviewed by the guy in the bbc scot studio this morning? I only tuned in half way through and murray looked like he was absolutely raging at a question, eyes bulging and looked like he would have stuck the nut on the interviewer if they were in the same room :lol: looked like classic angry small man syndrome to me. could get interesting if the pressure was on him :lol:

I saw that. The interviewer showed him one of his own flyers, that seemed to be devoid of any obvious Labour branding and he just started foaming at the mouth.

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