Breaking: Kezia Dugdale steps down as Scottish Labour leader

[Denzil_DC]

44. AFAIK, it's actually a separate strain of infighting, and endemic to Scottish labour.

It's most recently blown up around ex-Scottish leader Kezia Dugdale's ill-advised and very costly defence of a defamation case against Wings Over Scotland blogger Stuart Campbell, where she accused him of homophobia in a Daily Record article then again in the Scottish Parliament. The costs so far have been eye-watering, it seems she has little prospect of winning, and it came as a shock to many Labour supporters that their scarce funds had been spent on the case, apparently with little or no accountability or formal decision-making. Dugdale's been publicly very bitter about how she's been treated by Scottish Labour (she's more or less been in the wilderness since she stood down, and isn't expected to remain an MSP for much longer).

Where it does reflect Labour's problems Down South is in the split between pro- and anti-Corbynites, with abiding resentment of pro-Corbyn Leonard winning the leadership election over Sarwar, not helped by the fact Leonard's been thoroughly useless ever since. There are overlaps between those involved in that ongoing spat and the Dugdale affair. It has to be said that although this has crystallized around pro-and anti-Corbyn factions, even without Corbyn the same frictions would exist, and have done for many years.

Word is that Sarwar and his cronies have been briefing against Leonard for some time. Baillie (who you may remember I'm not at all fond of) has been a wannabe power behind the throne for many years, and may have been stirring things herself, as that's her style. Leonard doesn't seem much of a leader, and the way he carried out his "reshuffle" was pretty poor and cowardly. He's also brought back Alex Rowley after a time in the wilderness while a case of sexual harassment against a former parter ground on. The way this was resolved internally within Labour and the treatment of the complainant were very shoddy, which can't have helped.

So, all in all, you know, the same old same old dysfunction and boring petty bickering and vying for position that drove Labour supporters like me away many years ago ...