JEREMY Corbyn's visit to Scotland has been massively overshadowed by his party's internal disputes, so the party leader will be fuming at Richard Leonard's latest misfire.
Because we're sure the Scottish Labour boss, being the highly principled politician that he is, is about to launch into a stinging condemnation of the Welsh branch office – or he'll be left looking like quite the hypocrite...
It all started with the much-reported news that Scottish Enterprise has given arms firm Raytheon £135,465 since 2014.
With remnants of a Raytheon guidance kit recovered close to the scene of the horrific Saudi airstrike on a school bus in Yemen, which killed 51 people, that figure came under scrutiny.
Scottish Labour were outraged at the SNP, also because then business minister Paul Wheelhouse (pictured below) had made an "unpublicised private visit" to the US firm's plant in Glenrothes in January.
Leonard said: "It is deeply disturbing that an SNP minister met an arms manufacturer and ordered civil servants not take photos or publicise the visit."
And Labour MSP Neil Findlay added: "This visit exposes the hypocrisy of the SNP, saying one thing at Westminster while doing the opposite in power at Holyrood.
"He must reveal why he met Raytheon, what he discussed and why he insisted on silence from his staff."
And then it all started falling apart for Labour.
Loudly complaining about the "private" nature of the visit was more than a bit disingenuous – nobody would even know of it if the Scottish Government hadn't published details on its website.
You realise we proactively release information on all meetings with Ministers every quarter? Therefore *not* a secret at all! That is how this meeting (which was at company’s request to talk about diversification & investment in property not weapons) was known about by journos.
— Paul Wheelhouse MSP 🏴 (@PaulWheelhouse) August 20, 2018
And the money from Scottish Enterprise wasn't used to fund Raytheon's weapons manufacturing ... it was specifically used to help diversify their business into other areas.
So, perhaps a bit unfair to attack the Scottish Government over the attack in Yemen, given these facts?
However, it has since emerged that Welsh Labour have a bit more to account for.
SNP defence spokesperson Stewart McDonald tweeted: "Baffled by Scottish Labour's response to Raytheon receiving money to diversify into non-lethal defence work.
"This is an important sector that is supported by governments of all colours."
Baffled by Scottish Labour’s response to Raytheon receiving money to diversify into non-lethal defence work. This is an important sector that is supported by governments of all colours. See some examples of the Welsh Labour FM below. What say @LesleyLaird & @PaulJSweeney? pic.twitter.com/ji7cjAIv7r
— Stewart McDonald MP (@StewartMcDonald) August 21, 2018
And he attached some very interesting tweets from the Labour First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones.
"Great to discuss @Raytheon achievements and @WelshGovernment support," Jones said.
As well as: "Pleased to open new £1m @Raytheon hanger in north Wales, which will create highly skilled jobs & support our engineers of the future."
Nope, Labour's hypocrisy on this issue doesn't stop there. Because the funding difference puts Scotland to shame, too.
It was reported last year that Raytheon UK was given a grant of £407,000 by the Welsh Government, in order to establish its site in Broughton as a "Centre of Excellence". Not much diversifying going on there...
AND it's now being suggested that Scottish Labour has, at least in the past, taken donations from Raytheon.
When did Scottish Labour stop taking cash from Raytheon Systems? Will Richard Leonard pay the money back? pic.twitter.com/n0GRmYwnLh
— Indyref2 (@IndyrefTWO) August 20, 2018
McDonald issued a blunt criticism on Twitter: "Deciding who gets to buy what is where the UK Government - Labour and Tory - has consistently got it wrong. We will continue to oppose weapons sales to countries like Saudi Arabia. This latest stooshie is a cheap attempt at getting RTs by Labour, but that’s kinda their level now."
As Labour are already embroiled in one civil war, the Scottish branch has, in effect, criticised their Welsh counterparts in harsh, harsh terms.
Will they now have the courage to do so directly?
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