A Scot becomes Prime Minister this week and publicly satisfies a case of naked personal ambition and self-interest while eschewing the Scottish political base that allowed him to get the key to the door of No 10. As a Scot, should you be proud that he now leads the country or be worried that as a Scot, he appears to have little understanding about what a devolved Scotland is all about? Does Brown need Scotland, more than Scotland needs Brown? It’s an important question because as he moves into the hoose next door with his talk of Britishness, he should not forget that it is Scots that have the power to keep him there. Already, in the aftermath of a Scottish Parliament election that saw Labour ousted from power and local government elections that saw the council map change colour from red to a sludgy brown as council after council – apart from, predictably, North Lanarkshire and Glasgow - fell from a Labour stranglehold into a mixed marriage of varying party political relationships, there is talk of whether Brown would keep his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath seat if there was a General Election tomorrow. It’s a rumour that Brown and the Labour Party would be wise to listen to. Far from believing that Labour need not invest too much time and energy on Scotland because it has a godgiven right to run it, Scotland needs some massaging by party apparatchiks because nothing in life is guaranteed anymore. Look at three Labour council leaders – Jill Shimmi, Donald Anderson and Normal Murray - that stood in the Parliament elections and thought it would be a simple shoo in, failed to get the electoral support. It was all too much for former Edinburgh city council chief, Donald Anderson, who shed more than one tear at the count. only days before he had been out on the stump with Gordon Brown, drumming up votes and the chancellor clearly failed to get the sums right on that one. Post those elections in Scotland, we have a Labour Party that appears rudderless, with a Scot in Downing Street that is so focused on what he wants for himself that he has lost interest in his heartland. Poor Jack Mcconnell who did such a good job for them all, now appears the fall guy for a Party that offers no support and no guidance. Without a clear strategy as the party of opposition, Mcconnell walks into Salmond’s traps at FMQs like a wee moose. Salmond is a bigger fish from a bigger pool. He is smarter and more experienced. He needs to be duelled with, not tickled. Labour should have a clear and confident strategy to work to. But any grand plan appears to concentrate on who should replace Mcconnell rather than how to replace Salmond. And who would be a natural successor as Labour leader anyway and why when you keep boasting that Labour had a fantastic election, do you need one? Losing the election wasn’t just down to Mcconnell, indeed, it was probably lost despite him and in spite of the Blair/Brown combo. Mcconnell needs to seize the moment and define what Labour means in Scotland and he needs a Party and a national leader interested enough in Scotland to allow him to do that. A start for the former FM might be to play to your strengths; reassert your left-wing credentials, start prefixing everything with the fear prospect of an independent Scotland (because it hasn’t gone away) and perhaps throw in the idea that, horror of horrors, the SNP seems more a natural ally of the tories than the left – and you may not just save your own bacon but also the new Prime Minister’s as well.
One person has commented on this article. 1. Cameron's Secret Weapon?
Chris, Unregistered I don't think Brown has to worry very much about losing the vote in his own constituency - so in that, direct, sense, we Scots are not his potential nemesis. But what would be really dangerous for him would be if the Tories start playing the Scotland card: Cameron could, with some justice, make a fuss about the 'West Lothian question', and complain about the money that flows North to fund a lumbering and inefficient public sector. This could start an English debate on the future of Scotland that would have a great impact on the likelihood of independence. If that were to go badly, Brown, Douglas, Darling, etc, could be decapitated from British politics. |
Holyrood magazine 
Holyrood magazine is the fortnightly insiders guide to understanding the complexity of Scottish politics and policy developments and is widely regarded as being the leading publication for political news and information in Scotland.
