Oh well...
It seems that Jim, with the help of Jim himself, the bloke with the union jack suit who is the sole Labour MP in Scotland (and I still can't remember his name), and some aristocrat (don't you just love the oxymoronic term " Labour aristo"?) boosted Jim's votes to stay on as Labour leader and he won the vote of confidence by these three votes.
Of course, he was bound to vote for himself, doubtless Whatsisname in the union jack suit, and the nobleman, were told by London to vote for him.
But then Jim, having won, decided, possibly after looking at the figures on Munguin's Republic's poll, to resign, nonetheless. He's nothing if not contrary.
I haven't heard his resignation speech, but from what I've read it was the most ill-natured and ungracious resignation announcement that anyone has ever made anywhere in the universe.
It is customary when resigning after abject failure, (and lets face it, losing 40 of your 41 ones seats can only be thus described) to take credit for what you have done well and take responsibility for all failings, in order to ensure that the people carrying on after you can do so with some degree of confidence.
But, with his customary lack of charm, Jim appears to have blamed everyone from the SNP to Johann Lamont and her predecessors, and even the trades unions that fund the party, as if they had absolutely no right to comment. I read that he blamed people "who don't like me"... so that's probably just about everyone.
(Seriously, does anyone know anyone who likes, or who has admitted to liking, Jim? No? Me neither.)
I have no doubt that Scottish Labour was in a mess when he came along. It had for years been mismanaged, because it had been managed in Westminster, for a Scotland that is so out of line with Metropolitan London, that it could be...well, I would say it, wouldn't I...SHOULD be, another country.
An analysis of the issues is a massive job, one that Labour itself has been fudging for years. No one will get it right because as we have seen London Labour needs to move to the right to take Tory seats, and Scottish Labour needs to move to the left to win SNP seats.
Reconcile that when you have MPs who have to take the Labour whip from areas as distant economically and politically as the SE of England, and West of Scotland.
Solomon would have a job with that one. And yet Jim arrived at the top desk in December swearing that he would not lose a single seat to the SNP.
Notwithstanding the immensity of the challenge, Jim managed to get every policy wrong. Mainly his policies could be summarised as "SNP bad; Labour good", and the public didn't seem to agree with that, but when he actually ventured into the world of ideas, his ideas were woefully wrong too.
Stuart Campbell did a poll which, among other things, looked at Labour's main policies. The results showed that there wasn't one that had anything like support in Scotland.
He patronised "Glasgow man", by assuming that all he cared about was getting some drink down his neck at the match, and being allowed to sing Irish rebel songs. He was off the scale wrong about that as Stuart's poll shows.
He used misleading figures about tax, assuming that all business would continue to pay tax in London after Full Fiscal Economy, which Labour had ruled out in any case. People saw through the mistakes. He warned of another referendum, which Labour had ruled out. People didn't care, or didn't believe him. He warned only Labour could save Britain from a Tory government, which proved to be rubbish as we saw the Tories soar ahead of Labour by far more than the 59 seats maximum they might have won in Scotland.
He even took the wrong hectoring attitude in the debates he was invited to participate in. People don't like loud mouthed bullies that won't shut up.
And now, instead of leaving with some dignity, like some of his colleagues, notably Ed Miliband and Dougie Alexander did, he has left looking like the petulant loser that he is. And now he has announced that he won't, as previously planned, stand for Holyrood. He only wanted to be there if he was in charge, it seems. Serving the public? Nah!
Good riddance.
I'd like to say a huge thank you to the 280 people who took part in the poll. It's gratifying when people participate, as so many of you do, so much here, and I don't think I say thanks often enough!
The results are as follows.
61% (or 173 people) thought he should go.
36% (or 103 people) thought he should stay. (I was one of them.)
1% (4 people) weren't sure.
(Yep, I know, that makes 98%, but you know how rounding works out in these matters and in any case Munguin can't count.)
Now, next can we turn our attention to Mr William Cowan Rennie. Hiding as he is behind the Murphy lightning conductor. He helped his party lose 90% of its MP's in Scotland. Clegg fell on his sword for losing far less a percentage than that. Surely his position is also untenable?
ReplyDeleteI've always thought of Mr Rennie as a "nice" man who was promoted beyond his capabilities or, indeed, his own expectations.
DeleteWell, that's absolutely true, Anon. The Libdems had a terrible election in Scotland doing even worse than they did in England, losing 90 %, as you say. In England the appear to have only lost around 85%.
DeleteIt's quite funny, in a way, that no one has demanded Rennie's resignation.
I suspect that the real reasons are twofold.
1. No-one really noticed, or cared;
2. if they did they know that there is no one else, who hasn't already failed to lead them.
There are 5 of them. One is leader; one stood down as leader when he lost 11 of his 16 seats. Has anyone heard of the other three?
I dunno , John, if he's nice or not. He may well be. He has certainly been over promoted and seems way out of his depth.
Whilst no Adonis myself I always get the impression that the Great Spirit cobbled Murphy and Milliband together out of spare parts that others had rejected.
ReplyDeleteLOL... yeah they do both look a bit like that. They were an unfortunate combination.
DeleteAs for you not being an Adonis... A friend of mine seems to think otherwise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67qMxNKmZxA
Bye Jim, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Has Jim signed on at the Department of total obscurity?
ReplyDeleteHe's not gone yet Jim.
DeleteHe's sticking around to put things right before he goes in a month's time.
You see, he didn't have time to get it all sorted before the election, as he keeps telling us...but another 4 weeks will sort it!
Oh well, Hope springs eternal.
So many 'Leaders' since Henry McCleish. Perhaps it best we write their names in pencil.
ReplyDeleteCertainly we shouldn't use Ed's now redundant tablet of stone, unless he's ordered Mont Blanc as a follow up.
DeleteRumour has it that as part of his radical plans for British Labour in Scotland that the party,north of the border,rebrand itself as the SWPP (Scottish Working Peoples Party).
ReplyDeleteThis party will ensure that working people's rights in Scotland are properly enforced in line with current UK policy.
The party will be fully funded from Tory Central in london and it's leader will be by appointment only,thereby getting away from all this trade union and democracy nonsense.
Not really a radical change however,is it?
Sounds like what he would like, Bringiton. I think they will need to get Hard Working in there, and Families, and maybe up and down the country. It sill make it a long name, but it will give them something interesting to do when they design the heading paper.
DeleteScottish Hard Working Families Up and Down the Country Party (UK) Limited....(No Shirkers)
Hi Tris
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this. I voted against him staying. Don't get me wrong , he is an SNP hero . Decimating his beloved party and the man who cannot be wrong, we're wrong , we just don't know it yet. But if he did, or is that does , go then we could concentrate on the other two useless clowns next. Rennie .
Vile little man who helped his party to a loss equal to LIEbours. How this underqualified numptie got a leadership job is beyond me. In fact i find it quite embarressing to be honest. It's proves the FIBs are just as short on talent as LIEBOUR.
Ruth Davidson.
Presided over the worst Tory vote since the victorian days. A slightly less deluded soul than wee Willie, Ruth sees Scotland as a tory supporter at heart , again we just don't know it yet. Tory's to challenge SNP . ( no laughing at the back ). And Queenie Ruth leading the charge.
Abject Failing by all.
Will they both do the decent thing and resign with some dignity... ok laugh if you must.
Willie won't fall on his sword. he's barely mastered the spoon. "Fork and knives are bad ... bad .. shiney ... sharp .. bad SNP bad. SNp ..... eh" ?
Ruthy might but my bet is she will hang on like Dim Jim . So we might need that tank she straddled to drag her off screaming to the funny farm.
Tories big in Scotland Aye Ruth .Come on now wheeshed and eat your cereal .
Wee PS.
Alex Salmond will enter WM knowing that all the big guns that stood against him in the ref are dumped and forgotten. Only Ca-moron still standing . Wonder if he's stopped laughing yet. or is he waiting for the collapse of Ca-moron's govt in a riot strewn England. I bet he's the first guy to text them all as " plucky losers".. :)
Well Richy. I have to say that until you and Anon brought it up, I'd not given a thought to wee Willie.
DeleteMainly because, they just weren't significant enough. But as I said earlier, who else have they got?
And Annabel went when she failed to increase the Tory vote in Scotland, although it was her stated intention to do so, so why wouldn't Ruth. Again, it really is a ...who else do they have, and who cares anyway situation!!
It's always in my memory that the Eton Boy announced after the referendum that he had Salmond, "bagged, stuffed and mounted on his wall" (He would use that analogy, being of the toff class).
He should be reminded of that! Often.
Murphy should have gone immediately. At least Milliband was re-elected. You cannot be the leader of a political party if your party already has seats but you do not hold any of them (Natalie Bennett please take note). Likewise with Farage, but UKIP are imploding anyway.
ReplyDeleteAs to the Tories, I've always considered Goldie as a far better leader than Davidson is. You don't need to agree with their policies, but you expect an effective opposition, otherwise democracy gets stifled and the party in government gets lazy (ie Blair).
I think Murphy staying on the day every leader resigned was, in fact, confirmation that he is not a party leader, and that the responsibility for the catastrophe for Labour, was taken by Ed Miliband.
DeleteI agree. I don;t agree with many Tory policies. I never have. But I thought that Annabel was a good opposition leader. She agreed when it was sensible to do so, and attacked when she thought she had a point.
Her Labour opposite simply opposed fro the sake of opposing.
It was like someone had said. You're the opposition. Your job is to to oppose. Now get on with it.
Effective opposition is, as you say essential.
tris and the ill mannered nats but then what can you expect from extremists
ReplyDeleteI thought Jimbo was a jolly good leader misunderstood no doubt but
his heart was in the right place and he loved Scotland and all its people.
Unlike the snp drones who hate hate hate every single person not in the snp.
One can only hope Jim and his family can live the rest of their lives
within the Scottish community.Although I fear the relentless hate and vilification
by the snp supporters will drive the Murphys out of Scotland .
Nico, yer talking pish.
DeleteNo one wishes Jim or his family ill.
He wasn't a good leader as the result shows. He cared for himself first, party second and Scotland far down the list.
I'm a member of the SNP and I don't hate anyone, I despise liars though.
Niko.
DeleteUtter rubbish. He was a disaster for Labour. He misread everything.
He had few friends in Labour. He was more right wing than Tony Blair and in the end he tried to blame his failure on anyone but him.
He stabbed Johann Lamont in the back to get her job. He blamed everything on MSPs and Johann and Iain, who were far from being blameless, but they didn't bring about the disaster in May.
If he had a massive job, and a don't doubt he did, why did he say he wouldn't lose a single seat?
Why did he suggest he would gain seats?
Was he lying or just stupid?
He obviously thought that he could turn everything round.
He was hopeless as a leader; when he was up against Nicola all he could do was shout.
He even blamed his own funders. He wants the unions to continue to pay, but not to have any say...
Within the party he was reported to be as popular as herpes.
It was nothing to do with the SNP that he only scraped through with three votes which would be him, and some noble, and an MP.
No one hates him in the SNP. He delivered us a massive victory. I'm not quite sure I'd go as far as giving him a kiss but I'd sure shake his hand. He managed what Iain Gray couldn't...virtual wipe out.
What will drive the Murphy's out of Scotland is a search for another lucrative job. It may be in the House of Lords, which would mean he'd have to live in England. He may go off to America with the rest of the Henry Jackson Society, or Blair may get him a directorship or two of a bank. Maybe his mate David Miliband will get him into some charity in America. I believe that pays a fortune.
If he loved Scotland and was a patriot, he would stand as an ordinary member for the Scottish parliament. But now that he's not going to be a big cheese, he's not interested.
It may be that having wiped out Labour, there will be Labour members who will hate him. (I don't think Len McClusky likes him much.) But he's an SNP hero.
Never forget it.
Now, why is your blog locking us all out?
And finally. that Pet Clark programme was very interesting. Thanks again.
Might upset one or two people here.
DeleteI always thought that Lamont would have be better to stay as leader. But she was, as you say, stabbed in the back by Murphy and Labour HQ.
Given time, and more importantly freedom to pursue a Labour agenda from a Scottish point of view, she might have been able to knock Labour into shape in Scotland. It might have limited the damage inflicted by the SNP. Not by much but they could have saved a few more seats.
But Murphy is not the lone cause for Labour's failure in Scotland. Balls and Milliband are as much to blame, neither showing any connection with Scotland at all,
If Johann were to have been successful, she would have needed to have got rid of her hate gene for the SNP. That has been the major failing for SLAB Leaders all the way from Ian Gray. Wendy, though off the wall at times did not spit the same venom as the others.
ReplyDelete