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[/audioplayer]There should, by rights, have been a stampede of candidates to replace Johann Lamont as the leader of the Scottish Labour party. With the new powers promised to Holyrood, the Scottish First Minister promises to be a more powerful figure than most of the Cabinet. Only the holders of the great offices of state will be more influential than the occupant of Bute House. Labour might well trail the SNP by a large margin in the Holyrood polls, but their position is by no means hopeless.
But since she decided to step down, there was silence. After days of deliberation Jim Murphy, the shadow international development secretary, has now thrown his Tam o’Shanter into the ring along with two MSPs: Neil Findlay and Sarah Boyack. Murphy is the frontrunner but he took his time to decide – which is odd when one considers the weakness of his position in Westminster.
Murphy was one of the managers of David Miliband’s leadership campaign, and has never been quite forgiven by Team Ed. He’s been demoted from shadow defence secretary to shadow international development, where it is almost impossible to score any runs because of the level of agreement between Labour and the coalition. The high road back to Scotland should be the noblest prospect that he has ever seen.
It is depressing that devolved office should be seen as a resting place for those who fall down Westminster’s greasy pole. When the Tory leadership was trying to push Boris Johnson into going for the London mayoralty it had to use a reshuffle to make it clear he wouldn’t obtain great office under David Cameron.
It is not as if quitting Westminster need be the end of your national ambitions.
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