 | 'The stench of local Labour mismanagement and self-seeking is all-pervasive. Legitimate public concern is fobbed off by internal Labour Party inquiries, hardly likely in the Mandelson era to produce anything even remotely realistic or effective.' Michael, Earl of Ancram, 28 th October 1997. |  |
Opponents vied yesterday in their insistence that internal party investigations no longer commanded public confidence, with criticism raining in on Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar for his continued reluctance to order an independent public inquiry into the Renfrewshire saga.
From sources as diverse as the Shadow Cabinet and the Scottish Socialist Alliance came criticism that Labour were stalling on action until after the by-election.
Confirmation from London yesterday that the NEC response tomorrow will be to order a formal inquiry into the Renfrewshire sleaze row and the activities of Mr Graham will only serve to fan continued criticism over the next 10 days until the poll.
The task force which has spent more than a month investigating allegations of membership irregularities in the MP's constituency will recommend a comprehensive investigation by the party's National Constitutional Committee.
The NCC, set up in the wake of the 1980s purges of Militant, is the statutory body charged with handling disciplinary matters. Its investigation is expected to take several weeks.
A Labour source said: "The problems facing Tommy Graham have not gone away, but we need to make sure we stick scrupulously to procedures to ensure the process is fair to all concerned."
It is understood that the task force has not identified the kind of damning evidence that could serve as a "smoking gun" against Mr Graham and the West Renfrewshire constituency. However, sources say it has turned up enough material to raise doubts about the running of the local party. Tomorrow's report to the NEC will be brief and will not name names, a source said. "This will not be blood on the carpet stuff," he added.
This will only serve to provoke political opponents to greater fury. Tory constitutional affairs spokesman Michael Ancram said: "The stench of local Labour mismanagement and self-seeking is all-pervasive. Legitimate public concern is fobbed off by internal Labour Party inquiries, hardly likely in the Mandelson era to produce anything even remotely realistic or effective.
"That is why I have asked Donald Dewar to exercise his powers as Secretary of State to set up a statutory independent inquiry into all the allegations. I have had no response. Obviously he is too ashamed to refuse, so he just ignores it in the hope that this will go away."
Tory candidate in Paisley South Sheila Laidlaw said: "It is surely not unreasonable for the electors in this seat to have all the facts before them before they cast their votes a week on Thursday. Yet it is now crystal clear that the voters will yet again be kept in the dark about what really has happened."
Liberal Democrats and the SNP have also been critical of Labour's muted and purely internal response to the allegations which followed previous claims of ballot rigging, missing public funds, and the suicide of local MP Gordon McMaster amid what he believed was a whispering campaign against him.
Yesterday the Scottish Socialist Alliance joined the chorus of disapproval, linking sleaze to political careerism and the high level of MPs' salaries and expenses.
Frances Curran, a former left-winger on Labour's national executive, is standing for the SSA on a ticket pledging to be "a socialist MP, living on a local worker's wage," and ploughing back the remainder of her Westminster income into local causes.
"I am not prepared to better myself on the basis of me-first. We want to put principle back into politics," she said, adding that Italian politics had shown the capacity of major parties to crumble amid allegations of corruption. - Oct 28
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