I’VE been around the political block a few times. Very little surprises me about politics today, but I was genuinely shocked when I read that former Labour MP Katy Clark had accepted a peerage and a seat in the undemocratic and unaccountable House of Lords.

We were political opponents in her former North Ayrshire and Arran constituency, but I respected Katy. She was on the side of the people and campaigned on causes to improve the lives of working-class folk. She is the last person I thought would bend the knee to the British establishment and don the ermine of a “Noble Lady”.

By accepting a peerage (nominated by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn) Katy, like many prominent Labour politicians before her, has travelled from the radical left of the political spectrum to rubbing shoulders with members of the British aristocracy and establishment – figures who are totally unaccountable to the people.

READ MORE: Senior Scottish Labour activist urges party to expel independence backers

In addition to peers appointed for life, Katy will find herself sitting with 84 lords and ladies who are there by virtue of their birth, and whose children and grandchildren will follow them. The Lords also has 26 bishops among its membership.

Katy explained her acceptance to the LabourList website. She still calls for the abolition of the House of Lords, the legislature of which she will soon be a part, and for which she will be entitled to claim £305 per day for attending.

She said: “Labour boycotting the Lords won’t bring about its abolition or quicken the pace of reform. The second chamber makes hundreds of amendments to bills every year, often improving the legislation.

“The current 174-strong Labour peers group regularly make the difference, as many changes to law would not take place without Labour’s voting strength.

Katy concluded by stating: “As a Labour peer, I will be there to try to amend legislation, take up human rights cases, and issues and campaigns on behalf of the labour movement. It is an honour to be given the opportunity to do that.

“But part of that role also must be insisting that we get a legislative system appropriate for a 21st-century democracy and calling for an overhaul of the second chamber.”

I can’t help noticing how quickly the soon-to-be Lady Clark has gone from abolishing the House of Lords to simply “calling for an overhaul of the second chamber”.

In Scotland, the North British Branch Office of the Labour Party is led by Richard Leonard. He proudly proclaims himself to be a socialist and, as a former full-time trade union official, can point to many issues where he participated in campaigns supporting the working class.

READ MORE: Former minister slams Scottish Labour over Aberdeen conspiracy

How long Richard Leonard retains his leadership position remains to be seen. Speculation within Labour circles refers to his deputy, centre-right MSP Jackie Baillie, not being entirely supportive, while another Labour right-winger, Anas Sarwar, has never hidden his leadership ambitions. In 2007, Richard Leonard, then still a trade union official, contributed a chapter to a book called “Is There

A Scottish Road To Socialism”, edited by Gregor Gall and published by the Scottish Left Review Press. His view was that socialism is not for nations, like Scotland or even perceived nations like the United Kingdom. Quoting Tom Mann, he said: “The world is my country is the declaration of every socialist.”

Having said that, Leonard did take time to argue that Scotland should remain part of the UK: “The Scottish economy is not autonomous but integrated, not self-sufficient but essentially a branch plant. While political separation may be contemplated, economic separation is virtually impossible. One without the other renders the promise of socialism in Scotland rather hollow.”

Of Scotland’s place as a nation, and the movement to re-establish Scotland as a normal, independent country, Leonard noted: “The line on the map between Scotland and the rest of Britain is not a natural phenomenon but the man-made product of feudal deals, clashing ancient empires and warring landlordism.

“The nationalist movement in Scotland is found too often with an atavistic, backward looking, and Anglophobic world view. The pursuit of separation from the rest of the UK could easily cultivate a chauvinism which should be starved rather than fed.”

So, according to a proud socialist in the Labour Party, there is no place for socialism within Scotland, even if that is the route chosen by the Scottish people. Scots can only have socialism if it is imposed from London. According to the man who leads the “Scottish” Labour Party, the movement to restore to the people of Scotland the powers and resources we need to build a better, fairer country – a movement supported, at present, by around 50% of the Scottish population – is often “atavistic, backward-looking and Anglophobic”.

Accepting seats in the elitist and undemocratic House of Lords, and rubbishing the right of the Scottish people to govern ourselves, with a fully-sovereign government of our choosing and answerable to us, may go some way to explaining why the Labour Party is dying in Scotland.

Of course, former Labour MP Tony Benn once observed: “The Labour Party has never been a socialist party, although there have always been socialists in it – just like there are some Christians in the Church of England.”

Campbell Martin is a Scottish journalist, politician and former SNP MP