Jim Murphy deserves some credit for last night’s win. The new Scotland Secretary has become Labour’s patron saint of lost causes, tasked with selling the EU Constitution to Britain, Blairism to Labour, and Labour to his formerly-Tory constituents. Now he’s selling Brown to Glenrothes, and yesterday they bit with an increased share of the vote – a staggering achievement given the SNP backdrop.
There is something humble about Murphy, a trait he has acquired since I first saw him in the early 1990s where he was a self-aggrandising leader of NUS Scotland. His new demeanour gives him a hearing, which the average voter would not give to the more arrogant and condescending Labour ministers. He realises the extent of Labour’s defeat in Scotland, whereas many Labour MSPs are still in denial. He has given a wide berth to the Labour MSPs, taking no interest in Holyrood while in Westminster – so he’s unscarred by their petty feuds.
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