TENSIONS inside the Scottish Labour Party surfaced again yesterday when Mr Michael Connarty, MP for Falkirk East, formally withdrew his bid to become a Member of the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Connarty was one of those named by The Herald last week as having failed the selection test for aspiring MSPs, a move which embarrassed the party because it suggested Labour regarded some of its MPs as good enough to work as Westminster back benchers but not as MSPs in Holyrood.
Others named were Dennis Canavan, veteran Home Ruler Ian Davidson (Glasgow Pollok), and Murray Elder, who is a special adviser to Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar.
The decision to block the men's applications provoked accusations that Scottish Labour wanted only Blairite clones at Holyrood - a claim rejected by the party which insists the final decision on their futures has not yet been taken and will be announced next month. There was also anger inside the party that its policy of total secrecy on selections had apparently been breached.
Mr Connarty pre-empted the June statement by writing to Lesley Quinn, secretary of Labour's Scottish selection board. He praised her role and accepted her assurance that no decisions had yet been made, but he made clear his displeasure with those responsible for leaking the news.
''The behaviour of others who may hold senior roles connected to the selection process reminded me only too clearly of the problems, particularly the lack of discipline in relationships with the media, which undermine Labour's political efforts in Scotland,'' he told Ms Quinn.
Mr Connarty said the incident had been ''helpful'' in allowing him to clarify his own position. ''I have a positive view of the work that I undertake as a UK Parliamentarian at this moment and a very positive view of the role of the UK Parliament in a post-devolution situation. I, among a few UK Parliamentary colleagues, was willing to seek to serve the party in the Scottish Parliament where I thought Parliamentary experience might be of some assistance in the Parliament's early years. I have now decided to reappraise that decision and formally give you instruction to withdraw my application.''
Mr Connarty's withdrawal was in marked contrast to the reaction of Mr Davidson who privately expressed his incredulity at the selection team's decision and protested publicly at the way it had been disclosed. Mr Davidson was said to have lost marks for failing to wear a tie when he was interviewed. He had earlier been playing football for a team of Scottish MPs.
The leak provoked George Galloway, MP for Glasgow Kelvin, to remark in his newspaper column on Sunday: ''I'm no friend of Pollok MP Davidson - I haven't liked him since the early seventies when he said he'd spent days checking birth certificates of opponents in the Young Socialists to get them age-barred.''
But Mr Galloway admitted that Mr Davidson was a ''formidable'' figure in public life and remarked: ''If Labour fields lambs on the killing grounds of a Scottish general election, there will be no silence - only the sounds of slaughter.'' Dolly-type Labour clones would not be attractive to voters, he warned.
A Labour spokesman said last night the party was ''sorry'' that Mr Connarty's letter had become public but also pleased that he had accepted that the final decision had not yet been taken.
''We know he will continue to be a hard-working member of the Parliamentary Labour Party,'' the spokesman said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article