PHASE two of Keir Starmer’s premiership has begun.
The Prime Minister at the beginning of the month drew a line under his shambolic first year by telling the country we were now entering the second phase of his masterplan.
Though it may seem unlikely, this meant having to sack his deputy prime minister Angela Rayner for a complicated scandal about stamp duty, which then resulted in a major reshuffle of the Cabinet.
Yvette Cooper has been moved from the Home Office to become Foreign Secretary, to be replaced in her old role by Shabana Mahmood.
David Lammy takes Mahmood’s old job as Justice Secretary and narrowly avoids his new gig being regarded as a demotion by being handed the sinecure position of Deputy Prime Minister.
Pat McFadden has been redrafted from the Cabinet Office and given a shiny new role as Secretary for Work and Pensions with an expanded brief including skills policy.
Those are the big changes, all of which we understand to have been plotted with the utmost care on Starmer’s routemap to achieving a framework of policy milestones on the path to growth and onwards to the twelve pillars of a decade of national renewal (RAFPMPGO12PDNR, for short).
The movement on Cabinet’s upper deck took much of the media attention in Westminster – but it was the unceremonious sacking of Ian Murray as Scottish secretary which probably caused the most surprise.
Murray, as he pointed out twice in a post-boot statement, was Scottish Labour’s only MP during its wilderness years between 2015 to 2017 and again in 2019 until the election of his buddy Michael Shanks in 2023.
READ MORE: Ian Murray sacked as Scottish Secretary in Keir Starmer reshuffle
As a slightly unfortunate comparison made by Western Isles MP Torcuil Crichton had it, he was the last man standing at “the Alamo”, Scottish Labour’s own Davy Crockett.
That the Battle of the Alamo was fought to preserve the rights of Texan slaveowners against Mexico went unmentioned by the former Daily Record journalist.
But that’s besides the point. On the surface, there is no obvious reason to give Murray the bag.
Within Labour he was fairly well-liked. A former businessman, he was one of a very select few in the Government with experience of life out there in the real world.
He was always on message in interviews and, though lacking in “pizazz” as one Government insider put it to me a while back when there was speculation about his position, was considered by Labour bods a decent communicator, especially when compared with the other stiffs in the Cabinet.
And to put it gently, Scottish secretary ain’t the job it used to be. Time was, having the keys to Dover House meant you practically ruled Scotland like the colonial viceroy of some forgotten corner of the British Empire.
READ MORE: Anas Sarwar responds to Angela Rayner's resignation from Labour Government
The devolution era has made it a, shall we say, more relaxing position. Some ministers’ desks sag under the weight of in-trays stuffed with papers about the biggest political issues of the day: immigration, prisons, schools, the health service, pensions, whatever.
Of late, Murray’s diary has included “taking the salute” at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, trips to Malaysia and Singapore, and attending Tartan Week in New York City. These are all things people would reasonably want to do in their spare time.
We can only conclude that there was personal enmity involved. Naturally, Scotland Office bag-carriers – who now find themselves seeking alternative employment – were tight-lipped about this on Friday.
But I’ve heard tell the whole thing dates back to Murray’s involvement with the plot, in cahoots with Jim Murphy, to bring down Johann Lamont when she was Scottish Labour leader (incredible to think that required scheming).
Anas Sarwar was her deputy at the time – and Lamont’s defenestration pushed him out of the limelight.
If you can believe it, Shy Sarwar has apparently never gotten over it.
Perhaps a change of furniture at the Scotland Office will stand Starmer in good stead for next year’s Holyrood election. Who knows?
But as Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Leonard can tell you, Murray can be a dangerous enemy to have.
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