Desperate Times
The Telegraph's Scottish editor Alan Cochrane takes the Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy to task over his rather silly efforts to portray himself as a different kind of 'Unionist' - not just any old 'Unionist' but a trade unionist born out of a tradition of socialist solidarity.
Now if I'd been eating my cornflakes at the time, I would definitely have choked on them as I read these words because I never could never imagine Jim Murphy's political outlook being inspired by 'trade unionism' and 'socialist solidarity .
But I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures given Labour's standing in the opinion polls and this is certainly desperate stuff from the party's Scottish leader.
Jim Murphy risks looking like a loser by running away from a winning effort
The Scottish Labour leader's attempts to distance himself from Unionism won't impress many voters, Alan Cochrane argues.
Jim Murphy has argued he is not a Unionist Photo: Getty Images
By Alan Cochrane - The Telegraph
As craven political comments go, Jim Murphy’s effort yesterday takes some beating. In a pathetic attempt to pretend he didn’t really align himself with the Tories to win the referendum last year – and also to curry favour with those voters who care more about Irish politics – the Scottish Labour leader sought to distance himself from the word ‘Unionist’.
Only four months after he played a not insignificant part in defending that Union of Scotland, England, Wales and, yes, Northern Ireland Mr Murphy appears to want as little as possible to do with either the concept of Unionism or even less with his allies in that historic victory.
What he apparently can’t bear to be reminded of is his successful partnership with the Conservatives in beating off the separatists who were trying to break up Britain last September.
And in running a mile from the word he calls in aid the tortured history of Ireland to defend some of the daftest statements I’ve ever heard.
These are his words: “ I’ve never been a Unionist – it’s not my political tradition. As a family of Irish Catholic immigrants, we’re not Unionists. I grew up in a family of trade unionists but not political unionists.”
These are, as many of his fellow Scots would agree, weasel words because he knows perfectly well the difference between Unionism and trade unionism. But they were uttered because, like most of Scottish Labour, Mr Murphy has been so totally spooked by the barbs thrown at him by Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon that he’s now trying to rewrite history.
He added yesterday: “What happened in the referendum … (is that) we had a temporary alignment of two different unionist traditions, a kind of Conservative and Unionist tradition inside the Conservative Party and you had a trade unionist and socialist solidarity tradition inside the Labour Party.
“And for a moment there was an alignment for different reasons of political culture and history. But that moment’s gone.”
This is truly pitiful, wretched stuff and augurs not at all well for Mr Murphy having anything like the guts to take on and see off the SNP at the general election.
Let’s get a few things straight, shall we. Unionism in Scotland is an entirely honourable label. Mr Murphy did a great job espousing it last September and if he chooses now to deny it for reasons of some form of feeble political advantage then he diminishes only himself.
He thinks that disowning the word will play well with those in Glasgow and the West Central Belt who appear to think more about the politics of Ulster than of modern-day Scotland. He may be right but he should be aware that the vast majority of Scottish voters care not a jot for those ancient tribal loyalties.
You are a Scottish Unionist Jim. Enjoy it. After all, we won.
