If the Guardian are to be believed (and there always ought to be some kind of question mark over that), well finally get our elusive first candidate for the Scottish Labour leadership today, in the shape of Jackanory Jim Murphy. If he dares to hold something approximating to a proper press conference, I do hope the following questions will be asked... 1) Will you commit to standing for Holyrood in 2016, irrespective of circumstances? Will you, for example, give an absolute undertaking that if Labour lose the general election next year, you will not resign the Scottish leadership to take up a higher profile Shadow Cabinet position if thats on offer from Ed Milibands successor? And if you are defeated in this contest by Neil Findlay (or by anyone else), will you commit to switching to Holyrood anyway to be part of the new Scottish leaders team? Or is the Scottish Parliament only good enough for you if youre the leader? 2) If you win, all three of Scottish Labours formal leadership positions (leader, deputy leader and Shadow Scottish Secretary) will be held by MPs in London, and not one will be held by an MSP in Edinburgh. Do you think that is a) appropriate, and b) the best way of disproving Johann Lamonts claim that Scottish Labour is run as a branch office of the London party? 3) Because all three leaders will be in the wrong parliament, there will be a need for the party to have a lead spokesperson in the Scottish Parliament (a de facto fourth-in-command) to take on Nicola Sturgeon in First Ministers Questions. Will you guarantee that Labour MSPs will be able to elect that person themselves, rather than being lumbered with someone appointed by you from London? Scot Goes Pop.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 10:44:23 +0000
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