After Labour’s
defeat in the last Scottish Parliamentary Election, Iain
Grey did the decent thing. He took the blame
and fell on his political sword. But in his final speech to the Scottish Labour
Party it was a return to the empty anti-nationalist rhetoric which has done so
much damage to his Party. It came as no surprise that this would be the basis
of his farewell address to the conference. It really has been all that the
Party has had to offer during his stewardship.
He accuses the
SNP of bringing “vile poison” into politics.
He warned the
candidates for the post he has now vacated, that the “cybernats” and “bed-sit
bloggers” will “call you traitor, quisling, lapdog and worse”. They can also
expect to have their appearance, integrity and sexuality questioned. He told
them that they can also expect their families and their faith to be dragged
into what he calls “the vitriol”. And, he says, it will be worse if you are a
woman. (Presumably women will be threatened with a “doing”.)
Why this has
anything to do with the SNP is unclear. Argument by association might work at a
Party conference but it fails every test of critical thinking. That however,
has never been a strong point of Mr Grey’s
Labour Party. Would it be considered legitimate to tar Labour with the same
brush as the BNP, the Scottish Defence
League or the sundry pro-unionist knuckle-dragging groups and individuals found
on the internet simply because they oppose independence. Of course not. That would
be stupid.
Of course Iain
Grey has never been a traitor. The use of
that word is emotive, not reasonable. However, it is difficult for any UK Party
to convincingly deny being influenced from London.
That is something that they have to live with. Labour however, have the added
problem that many perceive the Party to be under the undue influence of those
outwith Holyrood. On more than one occasion during Iain
Grey’s leadership it appeared to dance to
the tune of its members on Glasgow City Council.
In the past Iain
Grey has been criticised here. But never for
his “appearance”. I couldn’t care less if he went around in a string vest and
pink tutu. As for his sexuality? Well, that’s just simply, none of my business.
Attacks on his family should be roundly condemned as insidious and cowardly,
with those involved being tracked down and prosecuted where possible.
What he has been
criticised for was leading a Party of negativity. A Party of considerable
arrogance. A Party that took its support for granted. A Party that thought that
all it had to do was continually rubbish the nationalists, at the expense of
all else, and the votes would come tumbling out of the ballot box.
The negative
campaign that Labour waged against the SNP is recognised as one of the main
reasons for their humbling at the hands of the Nationalists.
Labour has to
move on from “Nat-bashing”. The people of Scotland
have shown that they will not be swayed by a constant mantra that is really
nothing more than accusing them of gross stupidity for voting SNP. The Party
has to stop reacting to what the SNP do. It has put forward alternatives. They
have to stop depending on their friends in the media. People have long since
seen through the constant rubbishing of Scotland
and the Scottish Government by such as the Daily Record, the Scotsman and BBC
Scotland.
Many thought
that they had seen and heard the last of this. We can only hope that Iain
Grey’s speech will be the end of it. Let’s
hear about what is right with Labour and not what is wrong with the SNP. But
let’s hear it in the form of an alternative vision for Scotland.
Whether the
Party has such a vision remains to be seen. It certainly did not while Iain
Grey was at the helm.
