Labour: Scottish coronation

Posted on Monday 20 August, 2007
Filed Under Labour Left

 


Around 300 Scottish Labour lefts met in Glasgow on Sunday to determine whether or not they could muster the five MSPs necessary to mount a challenge to Wendy Alexander for the party leadership north of the border. They couldn’t.

[Hat tip: a gloating Luke Akehurst]


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Comments

15 Responses to “Labour: Scottish coronation”

  1. Mark
    on August 20th, 2007 at 16:07

    Is it just me or is everything sh*t?

  2. susan calder valley CLP
    on August 20th, 2007 at 18:01

    Beggars belief that they can’t get SIX !!!!!! Can someone from scotland please explain why…….

  3. susan calder valley CLP
    on August 20th, 2007 at 18:01

    Beggars belief that they can’t get SIX !!!!!! Can someone from scotland please explain why…….

  4. susan calder valley CLP
    on August 20th, 2007 at 18:01

    Beggars belief that they can’t get SIX !!!!!! Can someone from scotland please explain why…….

  5. susan calder valley CLP
    on August 20th, 2007 at 18:01

    Beggars belief that they can’t get SIX !!!!!! Can someone from scotland please explain why…….

  6. susan calder valley CLP
    on August 20th, 2007 at 18:01

    Beggars belief that they can’t get SIX !!!!!! Can someone from scotland please explain why…….

  7. susan calder valley CLP
    on August 20th, 2007 at 18:01

    Beggars belief that they can’t get SIX !!!!!! Can someone from scotland please explain why…….

  8. susan calder valley CLP
    on August 20th, 2007 at 18:01

    Beggars belief that they can’t get SIX !!!!!! Can someone from scotland please explain why…….

  9. Charlie Marks
    on August 20th, 2007 at 22:19

    This was unsurprising. Labour is not a democratic party; there is no longer any pretence. Oh, sorry, I forgot about the deputy leadership contest — what a powerful job…

    Since there was no prospect of having to contest the leadership, Brown was all too happy to say he’d welcome one.

    It was only the prospect of being kicked out that forced the Welsh Labour party to go into coalition with Plaid, a move that was popular with the rank and file of both parties.

  10. Shona Spurtle
    on August 21st, 2007 at 08:56

    Why should the parliamentary group fabricate an opposition when everyone knows there’s no significant support for it, just to give the media and people who aren’t even members a charade of a contest for a few weeks?

    Wendy will have won by acclamation. Susan isn’t even in Scotland so wouldn’t get a vote, and I somehow doubt if the other two commenters are even members.

    The Labour Party in Scotland has to work through the reasons why it lost, with one seat less than the SNP (despite gaving won 40 out o 59 directly elected seats as pointed out in today’s Scotsman), and it has to change and give voters who voted SNP without supporting partition good reasons to come back.

    http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1323172007

    If anything the defeat was by too small a margin for some people to recognise what happened. People were sick of a Labour party that felt it had a divine right to rule and had no ideas and no passion. The SNP campaign raised the stakes in terms of campaigning skill and passion. Labour took things for granted and dozed into defeat.

    There’s reason to believe that Wendy gets it, and I suspect that Elaine Smith and Bill Butler do too and they won’t be that sad that Wendy’s taking over.

  11. Tom, east London
    on August 21st, 2007 at 17:10

    Surely, part of the explanation must be that until recently, the SSP provided a viable alternative for lefties in the way that Respect or before that the Socialist Alliance never have in England. I can’t help thinking that people like John McAlion would have remaind Campaign Group Labour Left types had they been England-based whereas the presence of the SSP in Scotland presented more of an alternative to the Scotish left. Until that all went pear-shaped of course, which we can now see has kind of sent the Scottish left sprawling all over the shop. It’s depressing that the left hasn’t managed to get someone put forward for Scottish Labour, but I’m not sure it’s that surprising.

  12. Shona Spurtle
    on August 21st, 2007 at 19:50

    Wendy got 41 nominations from 46 MSPs. Sounds like a landslide to me.

  13. Last of the Blairites
    on August 22nd, 2007 at 09:50

    I think you should be asking what the reason is for Bill and Patricia’s domestic. That seems to be at the heart of this.

    I believe Bill is ex-IMG, by the way.

  14. Sue R
    on August 22nd, 2007 at 14:25

    Is Shona Spurtle a real name? (That’s all.).