LESS than 24 hours after Scottish Labour voted against the renewal of Trident, they were slapped down by shadow secretary of state for defence Maria Eagle.
That little vote they had, where 70 per cent of conference delegates voted against renewal, matters not a jot and will make negligible impact on to the party’s thinking. It was reminiscent of Chuka Umunna’s slapping down of Jim Murphy before the general election. There were also echoes of Ed Miliband slapping down Johann Lamont during the referendum campaign.
Surely the shadow cabinet know this sort of thing is a terrible idea? Surely they’ve learned that by now?
Clearly, they haven’t.
Perhaps there are politics at play here. The Scottish Corbynistas desperate for Kezia Dugdale to be replaced with one of their own hope the party come behind the Tories next May so that she can be ousted and Alex Rowley put in her place. Perhaps the non-Corbynistas in Westminster hope if Labour lose badly enough up here they’ll have enough leverage to get Corbyn out.
What it clearly shows is that Labour’s biggest opponent continues to be Labour. Never has a party torn itself apart quite so viciously and constantly as Scottish Labour.
There are good people who have given decades to that party. For them it is heartbreaking to see what has become of a once great institution.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here