Robbie Dinwoodie in the Herald, 5 th December 1996.
| 'After a dreadful summer of internal strife within Scottish Labour the leadership had hoped to mark a new start with the visit by Mr Blair for a fundraising dinner in Glasgow tonight. Now the old wound over constitutional policy and Old Labour versus New will be re-opened.' Robbie Dinwoodie in the Herald, 5 th December 1996. | |
Suspicion about New Labour and its leader, who is widely seen as false and untrustworthy, was shown in a report produced for the party's Scottish headquarters six weeks ago by the polling organisation System Three.
Interviews with focus groups across Scotland revealed a perception of New Labour as Right-wing and no longer speaking for the disadvantaged, Mr Blair as middle class and English, and Shadow Scottish Secretary George Robertson as acting under London command.
Labour attempted to divert attention from the significance of the contents by raising questions over how a copy had fallen into the hands of the SNP, who handed out the 20-page report in its entirety at a news conference in Edinburgh.
Accusing the SNP of peddling stolen goods, Labour's Scottish general secretary Jack McConnell said: "The only copy of this document to leave our offices was stolen from the car of a party official three weeks ago. Labour is today calling for an investigation by Lothian and Borders Police into the fact that a copy of the same document has been released today by the SNP."
The SNP say a photocopy of the report arrived "in the proverbial plain, brown envelope", at the Glasgow home of their director of organisation, Allison Hunter, on November 12, with no covering note or other indication of origin. They attribute the leak to high-level discontent over te New Labour project.
Labour says the car of their assistant Scottish general secretary Tommy Sheppard was broken into on Edinburgh's South Side, giving the date as a day later on November 13 and the only thing stolen was his briefcase, containing a copy of the System Three report.
Lothian and Borders Police say: "We are continuing our inquiries into the theft of property from a motor vehicle in Edinburgh last month."
How a document, or a photocopy of it, went missing, possibly from a vehicle in the South Side of Edinburgh and turned up in Shawlands, possibly a day earlier, is unclear. SNP chief executive Michael Russell insisted that they were unknowing recipients of what they took to be a political leak.
"Brown envelopes don't come with convict stripes on them," he said, mocking Labour as the party of Freedom of Information and a Whistleblowers' Charter who rushed to the police when it did not suit them.
On the politics of the document, he said: "It shows that Tony Blair and New Labour are totally out of touch with the values of mainstream Scotland.
Because of the referendum U-turn, Scots do not trust Tony Blair and New Labour, and do not believe they would deliver a Scottish Assembly and change in Scotland.
"They also regard George Robertson as being nothing more than a mouthpiece for Tony Blair's London Office."
Labour pushed into the front line of the row the newly appointed heavyweight who will oversee General Election campaigning in Scotland, Central Fife MP Henry McLeish. He stressed that the survey had been among floating voters and was carried at the back end of a difficult summer for Labour.
"Lots of lines have been drawn since then," he said. "Some parties might be happy to have 53% in the polls. We are not. We are still looking to win more seats. There is no doubt that North and South of the Border Tony Blair is a very popular leader. In four months he will be Prime Minister "Tony Blair has made clear he will be putting all the forces at his disposal in favour of getting a double-yes vote. We have moved on and we are on the front foot -- on devolution the Nationalists are simply looking for political oxygen to survive."
Scottish Tory chairman Sir Michael Hirst seized on the findings, claiming: "This confirms everything we have said about the Labour Party in Scotland -- they have no principles and they are completely controlled by their masters in London."
He added: "Mr Robertson has been singled out in this poll as a weak leader, controlled by the London leadership. Over the summer, he claimed that the proposals to hold a referendum on Scottish devolution were his idea. We have neer believed him and it is now clear that the Labour voters of Scotland do not believe him."
Scottish Liberal Democrat chief executive Andy Myles said: "The verdict of Scottish voters on Tony Blair is his reward for worshipping false Tory gods.
Six months before a General Election Scottish voters don't identify Mr Blair with Scottish interests or even traditional Labour values.
"Perhaps the Scottish Labour Party should make a bid for freedom before it is too late."
After a dreadful summer of internal strife within Scottish Labour the leadership had hoped to mark a new start with the visit by Mr Blair for a fundraising dinner in Glasgow tonight. Now the old wound over constitutional policy and Old Labour versus New will be re-opened, which was presumably the aim of the person who leaked the document. - Dec 5
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