1. The National Column 4
This week’s CIA torture revelations brought memories flooding back of my time in the
Scottish Parliament as part of a group which almost a decade ago brought forward a motion
to Holyrood calling for a public inquiry and a criminal investigations into rendition flights
from Prestwick Airport.
One of our Scottish Socialist MSPs, Frances Curran, told Holyrood: “Today, the Scottish
Parliament knows all about secret abduction, illegal imprisonment and the torture of
innocent people. How members vote at decision time today will show whether they are
people who see nothing, hear nothing, or people who are prepared to find out the truth”.
The SSP’s motion was backed by the Greens, the SNP and independents such as the late
Margo MacDonald and Campbell Martin. The Lib Dems, being Lib Dems, dithered and tried
to water it down.
But were voted down by the ‘hear no evil’ brigade, of the Labour and Tory parties. Instead
of a public inquiry and a criminal investigation, they railroaded through an amendment
which stated the Scottish Parliament “trusts that the Foreign Secretary’s assurances that
such flights have not landed in Scotland are true”.
During the debate, I asked the sponsor of the amendment, the late Phil Gallie MSP, if he also
believed in Santa Claus.
Which brings us to the question of how far we can trust powerful politicians at their word.
And it brings us to the man who was a member of the Government when torture flights
were landing and taking off from Scottish airports.
Jim Murphy is now asking the people of Scotland to trust his promise that he has suddenly
abandoned his old Blairite principles to become a born-again social democrat.
I think I would still err on the side of believing in Santa Claus.
This is the guy who for years on end took advantage of student grants and free education
before becoming a zealous proponent of fees. A guy who speaks in soft tones in public who
was condemned in an Early Day Motion by 13 MPs from his own party, including Tony Benn,
Ken Livingstone and Dennis Skinner for his “intolerant and dictatorial behaviour”.
A guy who claims that his mission is to rid Scotland of poverty, who as Minister for Welfare
left the Child Poverty Poverty Action Group “aghast” after he insisted that the state “would
not and should not” pay benefits at a level high enough to lift people out of poverty.
A guy who now poses as a champion of Scotland’s rights, yet three years ago secretly
conspired with the Tories to try and deny Scotland a referendum.

2. The National Column 4
A guy who is despised and distrusted by many in his own party, including the woman he
replaced as Scottish party leader.
A guy who was as an MP for the entire duration of the last Labour Government, and
Blairism’s chief bag-carrier for much of that time, who whispered not a word of criticism as
the banks were deregulated, the rich grew richer, and public services were privatised.
A guy who saw and heard no evil as hundreds of thousands were blown to pieces by
American and British bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, as children were snatched from their
homes in dawn raids on asylum-seeking families who’d fled the very countries the West had
torn asunder by war.
A guy who used Scotland’s biggest democratic event to make his next career move.
To me this is not a guy to be trusted. This is a guy who’ll say anything to get where he wants.
A guy who swaps principles as casually as other people change their socks.
So judge Jim Murphy not on what he says but what he has done.
The Labour Party in Scotland is now in a deep crisis of its own making. That was brought
home to me personally when I received a ballot paper through the post for the Scottish
Labour leadership.
Yet I’ve never been a member. I told UNISON many times that I did not want to pay into the
affiliated political fund. Many thousands of people probably got a ballot paper they had no
interest in.
Sources suggest just ten per cent of the ballot papers from the trades union part of the
electoral college were returned. It probably says a lot about the state of the Labour party,
its ‘democratic’ processes and its terminal relationship with the Trades Unions.
You almost feel sorry for them. Reports of the latest crisis in The Labour Party in Scotland
are now so frequent that it’s becoming boring.
The SNP government need an opposition. But the idea that progressive opposition will come
from the Labour party is not borne out by history. Even folk like Malcolm Chisholm, Pauline
McNeil and Elaine Smith were whipped into voting for Phil Gallie’s torture amendment.
Nothing would be more futile than a continued campaign to ‘reclaim the Labour Party’.
So, the ‘left’ in Scotland has a major gap to fill. Our democracy needs truly dissenting voices.
It needs people with the courage to say what the mainstream parties won’t.
There are people trying to carve out a new, strong credible opposition capable of holding
the Scottish Government to account from the left. The 45% in the Labour Party who didn’t
support Jim Murphy surely need a new home.

3. The National Column 4
The Scottish Left Project is in early infancy. Lots of discussions will be necessary. Vested
interests will need to be put aside. But some energy, principles and commitment would be
enough to allow it to take its strategically necessary place.
There will always be a need for new, radical and courageous voices to speak truth to power.