 | 'What they should not do is take any lessons in leadership from Gordon Brown. If, as looks likely, he decides not to campaign in Glenrothes, then he deserves to be beaten, not just in that, but in any subsequent leadership battle too. His party is suffering from low morale, appalling poll ratings and a loss of support across the country. How can he expect any party worker to spend time in Glenrothes when he is not prepared to do so himself?' Hamish Macdonell in the Scotsman, 19 th August 2008. |  |
THERE were days, not so long ago, when the fate of the Scottish Labour Party would have had them queuing at the doors to get in. That was when the party was the most feared electoral machine in British political history when it carried power before it like a beacon.
Not any more. The three contenders for the Scottish Labour leadership held their first public debate of the campaign in Aberdeen on Sunday afternoon. The organisers had booked only a small community hall, tucked away in a quiet residential suburb. It was a good job they had not gone for anywhere bigger.
Yes, the hall was full by the time the event started, but there were only 60 seats and, when the MPs, MSPs, aides, advisers and press officers had been taken into account, there were probably no more than 45 ordinary party members there, if that.
The people who turned up were Labour stalwarts, veteran activists who had been through the bad times before and were willing to do so again.
All those fair-weather Labour supporters, the voters and hangers-on who had kept the party in power from 1997 and 1999, were gone. In fact, it looked uncannily like a Scottish Conservative meeting from some time after the 1999 wipe-out, only with sandals and slacks instead of suits and tweeds.
The Labour Party used to have an underlying sense of power, even before it took office in 1997. It was evident at the national Labour conferences of 1995 and 1996, when those whose job it was to be close to the people with influence flocked to be near Tony Blair and New Labour.
In Scotland, at least, it has vanished. The SNP may have only one seat more than Labour in the Scottish Parliament, but that sense of power and influence it has inherited, alongside control of the Scottish Government, makes it appear much more than that. Similarly, for a party that lost the election only by the narrowest of margins, Labour has the appearance of a boxer out on his feet after ten rounds with a champion and does not know where to turn.
This time, at least, there is a leadership contest, but it is hard to avoid the impression that the winner will be nothing more than a caretaker, someone who will have to cope with the fallout from what is likely to be a lost general election and loss of a UK party leader in the next two years, and the probable loss of the next Scottish election as well.
During Sunday's hustings meeting, it was clear where each of the candidates was coming from. Andy Kerr, the former health minister, was aggressive and uncompromising, repeating again and again his assertion that Alex Salmond was Labour Enemy No 1 and that only a strong and powerful assault on him would help Labour regain power.
Cathy Jamieson went for the left-wing vote, which is not a bad idea at hustings meetings, where only the most committed of party activists turn up. She endorsed this week's Unison strike and was at her most passionate when attacking the utility companies over their profits.
Iain Gray was the most conciliatory, trying to appear left-wing by calling for "social tariffs" on food to help the poor, while defending his colleagues in Westminster, allies, for the most part, who have given him their support.
About 300,000 ballot papers have already been sent out, but the Scottish Labour leadership contest is a curious beast, and those votes are not of equal weight. The small number of MSPs, MPs and MEPs are able to control a third of the vote, so their decisions carry much more influence than the tens of thousands of ordinary union or party members.
At the moment, Mr Gray is front-runner, simply because he has managed to secure endorsements across all three parts of the electoral college . elected representatives, constituency parties and unions.
Mr Kerr is lagging behind because he has no union support, and his constituency and MSPs' support is limited. But with every voter ranking the candidates in preference, there is still room, just about, for any of the candidates to win.
I asked one of the contenders last week what on earth they were doing going for the leadership when it was clear that the party still had some way go before it started to climb back up to power.
"You take these opportunities when they come up," was the unconvincing response. That lack of enthusiasm in itself gave an intriguing glimpse into the resigned and depressing mentality at the top of the party.
The job, for whoever wins, will be to arrest the Scottish Labour Party's decline . simple in theory but very hard in practice.
What they should not do is take any lessons in leadership from Gordon Brown. If, as looks likely, he decides not to campaign in Glenrothes, then he deserves to be beaten, not just in that, but in any subsequent leadership battle too. His party is suffering from low morale, appalling poll ratings and a loss of support across the country. How can he expect any party worker to spend time in Glenrothes when he is not prepared to do so himself?
Mr Salmond will be there again in Glenrothes, and if the Prime Minister is not, he will have failed this very basic test of leadership. His allies will say he cannot possibly go because he will turning the by-election into a referendum on his future.
Well, it already is a referendum on his future, and the only way of winning it is by fighting for it.
Leadership is about taking risks, making judgments and setting an example. At the moment, Mr Brown is showing an aptitude for none of these. Those who have the future of Scottish Labour in their hands over the next few weeks had better hope that their favoured candidate shows more in all three categories than their leader in London.
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