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Second leader this year gone.  Presumably it will be the latest Jackie Baillie pish at FMQs tomorrow although I imagine this week we not see a repeat of her question from last week about people standing down from ministerial positions resigning as MSPs as well.   You just knew as soon as she made this party-political, there was a Labour skeleton just waiting to jump out the closet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-41995175

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Should be titled Labour In Scotland,  no legal entity as Scottish Labour....

However whatever they are called, its good to see them dying out......... Bring on Saturday when their NEW leader is announced.... 

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1 hour ago, Caledonian Craig said:

The disdain for the Tories at present is Labour's gain. Those two parties in Scotland are the yoon voters goto parties and at present the Tories are in disarray. I can see Labour's stock rising in Scotland in the next election and the Tories falling with perhaps slight gains as well for the SNP.

The Tories up here still seem to be quite popular under Colonel Ruth for some reason...

 

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6 hours ago, Toepoke said:

The Tories up here still seem to be quite popular under Colonel Ruth for some reason...

 

Well in the one poll since the general election it puts the Tories down 6% with Labour and SNP up 3%. Remember that the fisherman who voted Tory believing the Tories would better protect their fishing rights will also be in for a big disappointment. It will be a bit like Better Together campaign wherein promises are made to win votes but never kept.

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Honestly think Kezia will leave Labour/politics at the next election and probably be a Yes if there's another referendum in the near future. Her tone, articles, Twitter and appearance on QT have been quite refreshing if he being honest and not as much SNPbad , but more fuck the Tories.

 

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Makes all that 'get on with the day job' rhetoric she was coming away with just a few months ago look even more hollow than it did then.

The timing of this is almost certainly a ploy to try and upstage the announcement of SLab's new leader - not that I blame her after the way she was treated!

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5 minutes ago, weekevie04 said:

Leonard elected Slab leader.

Another election, seat, leadership contest lost for Anas.

I'm almost surprised - I was getting the feeling that Anas might actually win this one!

They've made the right choice, for a change.

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If I were a Labour man (I am not) and about to take over Scottish Labour I would be looking to areas I could pick up votes in. I'd be more open on independence and look to appeal to SNP voters who actively seek independence. To me as an observer it is a no-brainer taking that stance. I could only see it gaining more seats in Scotland.

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24 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

If I were a Labour man (I am not) and about to take over Scottish Labour I would be looking to areas I could pick up votes in. I'd be more open on independence and look to appeal to SNP voters who actively seek independence. To me as an observer it is a no-brainer taking that stance. I could only see it gaining more seats in Scotland.

Absolutely.  Even from a cynical, politicking perspective, at the very least softening their stance on independence would surely win them enough votes back from the SNP to overtake the Tories.  If they went a bit further and allowed candidates to openly back independence it's quite possible they could outstrip the SNP.  

It isn't obvious to me how Leonard presents a credible left-wing/pro-union prospectus.  Under Holyrood's constraints, how much more could he deliver?

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DFqNakhM_bigger.jpg STV NewsVerified account @STVNews

Breaking: New Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard has told @STVNews his predecessor Kezia Dugdale may be suspended from the party in the next few days.

 

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Well I see dark days ahead for Scottish Labour. They now have an English leader who openly opposes independence. Seems that Ken Livingstone's advice has fallen on deaf ears. I recall him speaking as disastrous results for Labour came in at the last but one general election. With Labour close to being wiped out in Scotland he suggested that Scottish Labour distanced itself from the Westminster Labour party and looked more to appeal to Scottish voters. No chance of that now then.

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In fairness to Scottish Labour members, they might as well as have been voting on their favourite colour of sh*t. Two candidates terrible candidates is indicative of how their biggest names are incredibly poor or incredibly toxic. And say what you like about Leonard, if the only other candidate is Sarwar, I'd have no problem voting for the guy I'd never heard of. Sarwar epitomises everything that has been wrong with Scottish Labour over the last 20 years and is the by-product of their culture and attitudes. An absolute ring piece and en electoral liability, so in that sense, the membership did well to reject him. Again. Absolutely no way Leonard going to turn that ship around though.

As for Dugdale, she's wrong to go on the show but I get the impression she's absolutely had enough of Scottish Labour and thought f*** it. The reaction from Scottish Labour folk since her announcement has been incredible - the vitriol and anger has surprised even me but it goes some way to explaining why she's not giving a shit. Imagine working with those people day in, day out and suffering those attitudes and being under pressure to play politics their way. In some way, I respect that she's willing to tell the party to f*** off, but going on a celebrity show when she's been elected to parliament is not the way to do it.

Either way, I've stocked up on popcorn because I don't think she's finished yet. I don't seeing her coming over to the SNP but it's clear there are those in Scottish Labour who fear what's she's got to say. Ideally, she stays in Scottish Labour but comes on board the Yes campaign because she's realised the attitudes and politics of 21st century Unionism are no longer good for Scotland. 

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2 hours ago, Auld_Reekie said:

In fairness to Scottish Labour members, they might as well as have been voting on their favourite colour of sh*t. Two candidates terrible candidates is indicative of how their biggest names are incredibly poor or incredibly toxic. And say what you like about Leonard, if the only other candidate is Sarwar, I'd have no problem voting for the guy I'd never heard of. Sarwar epitomises everything that has been wrong with Scottish Labour over the last 20 years and is the by-product of their culture and attitudes. An absolute ring piece and en electoral liability, so in that sense, the membership did well to reject him. Again. Absolutely no way Leonard going to turn that ship around though.

As for Dugdale, she's wrong to go on the show but I get the impression she's absolutely had enough of Scottish Labour and thought f*** it. The reaction from Scottish Labour folk since her announcement has been incredible - the vitriol and anger has surprised even me but it goes some way to explaining why she's not giving a shit. Imagine working with those people day in, day out and suffering those attitudes and being under pressure to play politics their way. In some way, I respect that she's willing to tell the party to f*** off, but going on a celebrity show when she's been elected to parliament is not the way to do it.

Either way, I've stocked up on popcorn because I don't think she's finished yet. I don't seeing her coming over to the SNP but it's clear there are those in Scottish Labour who fear what's she's got to say. Ideally, she stays in Scottish Labour but comes on board the Yes campaign because she's realised the attitudes and politics of 21st century Unionism are no longer good for Scotland. 

What's unusual about this is that while she'll no doubt be aware of what the reaction has been to her going on the show before she goes in, while she's on the show, she's completely cut off so will have no idea what the reaction is to her "performance".    What's interesting is that while there was a load of bile being spewed from various Labour types initially - and surprisingly she was getting more support from the SNP - senior figures in Labour, i.e. Corbyn and Leonard have railed back from demanding she's suspended from the party.   I suspect that's because there might be some ambiguity about who knew what in advance of her plans - I see Jenny Gilruth is saying she spoke to both Anas Sarwar and Richard Leonard in advance.  She also seems to be suggesting that it wasn't someone from #TeamKez who leaked it on Friday night, which caused it to overshadow the leadership announcement and which seemed to cause the major upset - my money would be someone from Sarwar's camp.   The other part of that is that if they suspend her then it lets her totally off the leash.   Presumably she'd serve the remainder of her term as an independent and so would be free to say what she thought.  Kicking her out might make her more vindictive.

I doubt she'd cross the floor and join the SNP but stranger things have happened.   I've always thought she was equivocal on Indy, I doubt that its what gets her out of bed in the morning but I suspect she was at best a soft-No.   Given the way things have gone post 2014, I wouldn't be surprised if she'd changed her mind - assuming that in the secrecy of the polling booth she didn't actually vote Yes.    I also think she's a lot friendlier with Nicola Sturgeon than either lets on.

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