The Observer has a hugely interesting interview with Stephen Purcell, the leader of Glasgow City council and king in making/MSP/First Minister of Scotland/Leader of Labour in Holyrood, according to the vested interests.
Interesting passages include the following:
"Disillusioned party activists are facing up to a generation of wandering in the wilderness, out of power and unable to stop the country sleepwalking into separatism as it grows accustomed to life under a nationalist administration."
"His words will smooth the furrowed brows of a handful of Labour MSPs, who have their eye on the national leadership after the decent but dull current leader, Iain Gray, is finally forced to leave office. Gray's fate was effectively sealed a few weeks ago when a poll showed that his recognition factor among voters was lower than that of Annabel Goldie, the redoubtable chief of the Scottish Tories. But there are influential business and media players in Scotland who want Purcell to be Labour's next first minister."
But the most telling is this comment, that effectively strolls up behind Iain Gray and guts him like a fish.
"New Labour as a brand is dead and the period of opposition we're having in Holyrood is giving us a chance to reflect on how we administer devolution. Look, there's no point in pretending that the SNP government has not done very well, given that none of their ministers had had any previous experience in government. There's no doubt the processes of devolution have been helped by having a minority government in Holyrood."
These few short words peal the death toll for New Labour and recognise what everyone in Scottish Labour knows, but wont say publicly. New Labour is Dead....Let's keep it that way.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/31/steven-purcell-glasgow-labour-elections
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3 comments:
Oh my. I've been suspecting for a while now (as have many others) that Mr Purcell was looking to knife Mr Gray in the back at the earliest possible moment but I didn't think it would be either this obvious or this soon. I almost admire the lad for it.
His naked ambition will eventually count against him.
The best politicians are those that seem like they only barely want the job, a charge that could never be laid at the door of Mr Purcell.
Gray could only ever have been a short term solution to the leadership vacancy. He is so incredibly unsuited to the job; the only reason that he got it was that the other two were even more disasterous.
The trouble with Labour is that it has no talent in Holyrood and in that situation Gray was a fish of sorts in a tiny tiny puddle. Up against a real politician he is completely lost. I suspect he will stand down after the next elections.
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