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Scottish Labour Leader self-mutilating in coyness on parliamentary intentions

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Jim Murphy, new Leader of Scottish Labour and MP for East Renfrewshire, is tactically askew in  his non-handling of the matter of his parliamentary intentions.

Following his winning of the Scottish Labour Leadership on 13th December 2014, Jim Murphy MP declared that he would make it known ‘in the new year’ whether or not he would stand again for his Westminster seat of East Renfrewshire; and whether or not he would stand for Holyrood before, at or after the May 2016 Scottish Election.

Since then  has adopted a virtually unbroken vow of silence and refused to answer questions o the issue.

The phrase ‘in the new year’ raised reasonable expectations of an announcement in early January. It was mid February before Mr Murphy announced that, as the selected candidate for East Renfrewshire he would be standing again for that seat.

This – of course – has led to reasonable questions as to his intentions now, should he, as is highly probable, once again be elected to represent East Renfrewshire. Will he serve a full term? If not, when would he anticipate standing for Holyrood?

Answers come there none. The lip remains buttoned – not a good political look.

This evasiveness suggests either that Mr Murphy does not know what he will do or that he does know but won’t tell the voters, Neither interpretation does him any favours.

Once Mr Murphy had failed to utter in January it was obvious that he was going to stand again in East Renfrewshire. Even if he knew from the outset that he was likely to do this, it is incomprehensible that, by the time he announced this, there was no script available to respond to the predictable consequential questions.

This is incompetent teamwork.

It is no secret that Labour has a battle on its hands. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that – as, indeed, Mr Murphy does in relation to other questions.

His situation and his strategy is plain to everyone; and there is nothing dishonourable about it.

Why did he not simply say, as soon as he was elected Scottish Leader:

‘My party has a major fight on its hands and ground to recover. We cannot afford to take chances with a seat we should hold, so I will stand again for East Renfrewshire and, if elected, commit myself to representing it for at least three years. After that point, when I seek to be elected to Holyrood at a suitable opportunity, I will ensure that whoever replaces me as East Renfrewshire’s MP will be able, engaged and as committed to the constituency as I am.

‘In the meantime I will work both to represent East Renfrewshire’s interests at Westminster and what I hope will be my party’s legislative programme there – and work to take an energetic and purposed Scottish Labour back to where it should be – looking after Scotland’s interests. We will get there. And Kezia Dugdale and I will be a relentlessly effective twin-parliament leadership.’

Something like this would have seen the job done. There would have been no questions left to ask that would have been other than intended nuisances and easily swatted away.

As it is, masked reticence simply provides the prompt for endless distraction at a time when the East Renfrewshire electorate, Scottish Labour and Deputy Scottish Labour Leader, Kezia Dugdale, can do without uncertainties; and when Murphy himself needs room to move in the open rather than a self-made pressure to dodge and disguise.

Everyone can see and understand the current challenges faced by Scottish Labour and its Leader. Pretending that they do not exist or that they do not influence his port and starboard tacks, luffs and jibes is an insult to the intelligence of his audience and leaves Murphy himself unfree – which does not suit him. He is at his best running untrammelled with the brakes off.


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