By now you should all have had a chance to marvel at the extraordinary madness that is Scottish Labour’s 51-page suicide note of SNP members who’ve said rude words on the internet since 2012.
You may even have had time to read a data protection expert (and Labour voter)’s assessment of all the ways in which the dossier breaks the law.
Thank you for your e-mail to Kezia with regards to her exchange with the First Minister in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 23rd April 2015.
Kezia can confirm that the person mentioned in the exchange has had their membership of the Labour Party put under administrative suspension and an investigation is currently being conducted by the General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party.
If you have specific questions on the investigation you will need to direct them to the Scottish Labour Party, not Kezia’s Parliamentary office.
If there is anything other issues Kezia can help with as your MSP, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
An alert reader today drew our attention to a detail we’d missed in a recent article in the Shetland News. It concerned Alistair Carmichael’s leaking of a false memo in order to smear Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP while the Orkney & Shetland MP was still Secretary of State for Scotland, and took the form of a quote from Carmichael’s Holyrood counterpart Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland:
We know that politicians are allowed to lie in election literature, but we’re struggling to see how this isn’t fraud, which is something different altogether.
Today’s Scottish Sun has a full breakdown of all 59 Scottish seats at Westminster, including bookies’ odds for the favourite in each one. It suggests that nine Labour MPs will have jobs in Scotland a week from today, along with two Tories and a single lonely Lib Dem, with the SNP sweeping the other 47.
We ran the incumbents in those 12 seats through MP Report Card, an independent site which tracks the activity of all the UK’s MPs including expenses claims, outside earnings, how often they turn up to vote or speak in debates and how good they are at replying to constituents’ letters, to gauge their calibre.
Scottish Labour branch office manager Jim Murphy will be appearing on BBC Radio Scotland’s “Call Kaye” programme from 9am today, taking questions from voters as well as presenter Kaye Adams. The phone number to ring in is 0500 92 95 00.
Below are a few posers readers might like to put to Mr Murphy, because he seems to have been adept at avoiding them throughout the campaign. Feel free to reword them.
There’s a tactical voting tool on the Telegraph website, which despite a somewhat loaded headline purports to even-handedly advise confused voters on the best course of action to take in their own constituency depending on whether they want to keep Ed Miliband or David Cameron OUT of 10 Downing Street.
We were a bit suspicious when we typed our Bath postcode in and asked to keep Cameron out, because it advised us to vote Labour even though it’s one of the safest Lib Dem seats in the country (with the Tories in 2nd) and Labour got just 3,251 votes in 2010, which is to say they’ve got absolutely no hope here.
And then we tried some Scottish seats, and things got a bit creepy.
A few days ago, a constituency poll by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft found that the SNP were leading narrowly in Edinburgh South – a seat in which they secured a paltry 7.7% of the vote in the 2010 general election. Keep that fact in mind, readers.
Today the Edinburgh Evening News (EEN) published an article by David Maddox, a senior political journalist on the Scotsman, alleging that the SNP candidate for the seat, Neil Hay, had “liken[ed] anti-independence campaigners to Nazi collaborators” in a tweet over two and a half years ago (from a pseudonymous account under the name “Paco McSheepie”), and had also tweeted a series of attacks on pensioners.
Scottish Labour immediately leapt on the article and demanded Mr Hay be sacked as the candidate, less than two weeks before the election. It’s not possible to replace a candidate at such a late stage – some voters may already have voted by post – and such a move would thereby effectively have handed the seat to the Labour candidate and previous MP Ian Murray by default.
The story turned out to be an absurd, massive exaggeration and misrepresentation of the reality. But it also exposed a level of naked, shameless dishonesty and hypocrisy in Scottish Labour, and in particular its deputy leader Kezia Dugdale, that even this site hadn’t previously dared to imagine.
Earlier today we highlighted some of the social-media charm of Labour blogger and BBC pundit Ian Smart, after the Scottish branch office deputy leader Kezia Dugdale demanded that the First Minister should take a more pro-active role in policing the comments of party members on Twitter and Facebook.
Mr Smart’s history of incredibly abusive and offensive comments stretches back many years. But of course, it wouldn’t be reasonable to berate Scottish Labour for its failure to act if it wasn’t aware of them. So we had a trawl through his Twitter followers list just to see if there was anyone who might have noticed and brought it to the leadership’s attention so they could have a quiet word.
After literally months of telling voters endlessly that the only way to stop the Tories forming the next government was for Labour to be the biggest party, Jim Murphy was finally pressed properly last night on the question by the First Minister on STV (from around 1h 40m). Here’s what happened:
That seems to be a pretty clear and unequivocal statement – Labour will vote against any Queen’s Speech from the Tories. We already know that the SNP have pledged categorically that they’d do the same.
What that means is that if the SNP and Labour between them – in ANY combination – have more than 323 MPs, the speech will be defeated and the Tories can’t form the government, whether they’re the biggest single party or not.
At that point, Ed Miliband will be invited to attempt to form one, which the SNP will vote for, and which on the numbers above will mean that Miliband becomes the next Prime Minister. Labour, though not the largest party, will form the government.
That’s from Jim Murphy’s own mouth. The lie is dead. Anyone still got any questions?
Like some sort of out-of-control, unstoppable lying machine, Scottish Labour keep telling the electorate that the party with the most seats in a hung parliament is the one that forms the government, and that the only way to prevent the Conservatives from returning to power is for Labour to be the biggest party.
(Because if the answer is yes then Labour’s entire Scottish election strategy – “Vote SNP get Tories!” – crumbles to dust, and if it’s no then Labour is saying that it’d be prepared to abandon not just Scotland but the whole UK to another five years of Conservative government purely out of spite against the SNP.)
Three of the party’s elected representatives have now been asked the question on air – James Kelly MSP by John Mackay of Scotland Tonight a week ago, branch office leader Jim Murphy by BBC Scotland’s Gary Robertson yesterday, and the shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran last night (below), again by STV’s John Mackay.
As you can see, Scotland’s voters still await an answer. But on this page we’ll keep track of all the swerves, evasions and dodges until we get one, if we ever do.
Captain Caveman on The Only Notes That Really Count: “I know this will be an alien concept, YL, but some of us have to be up with the lark…” Jul 10, 06:25
Aidan on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Aye I think the facts of the case probably do lean against the narrative I set out above, but I…” Jul 10, 06:04
Young Lochinvar on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Ooh errr.. Muham..d has just topped the list of male newborns names in home of Torydom Merry ol’ Engerlund.. Wowsers!…” Jul 10, 04:40
What Rot on The Only Notes That Really Count: “I contributed, more than I could afford at the time, but I’ve got zero evidence now that I ever did.…” Jul 10, 03:08
Onlooker on The Only Notes That Really Count: “The only notes that really count…are the ones that come in wads. Indeed.” Jul 10, 02:07
Young Lochinvar on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Ooops! Meant to say: HMcH @ 8.52. Anyway it’s after his bedtime/ wing lockdown now anyhows.. Waiting for hung-over intemperate…” Jul 10, 02:06
Young Lochinvar on The Only Notes That Really Count: “HMcH Somehow I doubt Roddy feels particularly chastised by your wee piece of grandstanding.. Anyways peeps, happy birthday tomorrow to…” Jul 10, 01:48
Stuart Swanston on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Once the donors who had requested repayment had been refunded we must assume that that total subtracted from the grand…” Jul 10, 01:02
fiona on The Only Notes That Really Count: “For everyone saying “the SNP will never…” “if the SNP had done….” etc etc, please acknowledge the fact that all…” Jul 10, 00:37
Lynn Fraser on The Only Notes That Really Count: “I have filled in your contact form. I gave statement to Branch Form. I hope to have contact from you.…” Jul 10, 00:01
crazycat on The Only Notes That Really Count: “I can see your point, but: When I received my refund, they admitted it hadn’t been spent on the correct…” Jul 9, 23:33
James on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Adrian getting his master’s opinion in first there….just to quell expectations amongst the colonials.” Jul 9, 23:14
James on The Interests Of The Many: “I reckon the SP wisnae in the video; his ankle tag widnae let him go ootside….” Jul 9, 23:11
James on The Interests Of The Many: “So…the ‘National Broadcaster’ eh? “…People are just pleased the England team are for once playing some decent football…” What people?…” Jul 9, 23:03
100%Yes on The Only Notes That Really Count: “The SNP will never deliver Independence!!! I hope this is the beginning of the end for this party who stole…” Jul 9, 21:41
100%Yes on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Is this the real reason the SNP has never been committed to Independence? If the SNP had been honest I…” Jul 9, 21:32
100%Yes on The Only Notes That Really Count: “I hope the SNP isn’t using the Scottish government legal counsel for advice, this has nothing to do with the…” Jul 9, 21:24
robertkknight on The Only Notes That Really Count: “There you go, Crown Office, I think that’s referred to as having one’s feet held to the fire!” Jul 9, 21:23
Sean Duffy on The Only Notes That Really Count: “It’s a very compelling argument and aligns with my understanding of how the law stood on this matter. The unknown…” Jul 9, 21:07
Aidan on The Only Notes That Really Count: “This is an excellent opinion but may not fully and completely cover off what could be the SNP’s line of…” Jul 9, 20:56
Hatey McHateface on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Well, well. Roddy Dunlop KC agrees with me that the original ring-fenced fund, sensibly invested, would have near doubled in…” Jul 9, 20:52
Fraser on The Only Notes That Really Count: “How fast can an actual Political party be wound up? Well after this there will be no money left to…” Jul 9, 20:45
Southernbystander on The Interests Of The Many: “But that is not what is happening. It is simply being pleased that English sports people are doing well. You…” Jul 9, 20:38
Blackhack on The Only Notes That Really Count: “I never paid any money in, but if I did I’d be signing that pronto.” Jul 9, 20:23
Southernbystander on The Interests Of The Many: “No. People are just pleased the England team are for once playing some decent football and we have one player…” Jul 9, 20:05
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Your Call Is Important To Us: “I have not. I’d redact it with a black box if I’d done that.” Jul 9, 19:57
James Barr Gardner on Your Call Is Important To Us: “Mallaidh is an Irish and Scottish Gaelic spelling of the name “Molly,” which itself is a traditional pet form of…” Jul 9, 18:31
DelayedResponse on Your Call Is Important To Us: “That’s incredibly frustrating – it’s amazing how often you can get a vague response like that. Hopefully they’ll actually get…” Jul 9, 17:48
twathater on Your Call Is Important To Us: “The ENDLESS mindless responses that all say the same thing “Fuck Off” we’re not interested in addressing your complaints, even…” Jul 9, 17:42
