'You can't get any worse': By-election thumping looms over Scottish Labour conference
Party members were left feeling dejected after Labour suffered a heavy defeat in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Whoever was in charge of Scottish Labour’s diary is probably kicking themselves for scheduling a conference the day after a by-election they had no guarantee of winning.
Despite the thumping defeat Labour suffered in the Gorton and Denton by-election, where they came third behind the Greens and Reform UK, the mood at the Labour conference was initially as positive as it can be.
Many party members said the by-election defeat was not the big story it was being made out to be - incumbent governments lose by-elections all the time, pointing to the SNP losing the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election last year.
Others pointed out that Gorton and Denton, and a seat at Westminster up for grabs, is a very different situation to Scotland.
Some said folk on the doorsteps are starting to make the distinction between Keir Starmer in Westminster and Anas Sarwar in Holyrood.
But once you got past the first pleasantries, the conversations changed.
“You can’t get any worse,” one said. “This is a wake-up call for the party,” said another.
Others branded it a “terrible” night for the party, and said: “You cannot walk away from a result like that as Prime Minister.”
Rebel MP Brian Leishman, who has always been outspoken on Starmer’s leadership, was true to form.
“He has to go,” he told The Scotsman. “Nothing has changed.
“I’ve said for a long time that Keir Starmer is not up to the job - the toxicity, the misjudgements, the missteps, are going to keep happening.”
There is still some hope for Anas Sarwar in Scotland, despite burning his bridges with Starmer earlier in the month by calling for him to resign.
Some at the conference said Mr Sarwar had predicted the direction of travel before a single vote was cast in the by-election.
Yet, Mr Sarwar did not take advantage of this fact at the conference speech. Even speaking to journalists afterwards, he refused to be drawn on his self-inflicted spat with the Prime Minister.
The by-election defeat was not the only reason for the poor start to the day.
Journalists initially turned up at the venue in Paisley to be told there was no dedicated room for them to work from, and they would not be given the chance to speak to Mr Sarwar or Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, who is in charge of the election campaign.
Perhaps Mr Alexander was too upset at being back in the area he lost to the SNP in 2015.
It was pointed out to Labour staffers that Mr Sarwar cannot expect to be the next First Minister, with all the duties that office entails, if he cannot bring himself to speak to the media when things get a bit difficult.
After much to-ing and fro-ing between party spinners and the media, it was later agreed Mr Sarwar would in fact spare 10 minutes for the media, and journalists could approach Mr Alexander if they wanted to.
The media were also eventually given a cinema-style room within the venue for a few hours to work from.
All of this left a bitter taste in the mouth and a feeling of chaos.
Perhaps another point that demonstrates the chaos and the U-turns the party is facing. Speaking in the morning, Mr Sarwar told the BBC it was not a conference, and was in fact a “pre-election, one-day rally”.
However, the front page of the event programme clearly stated the word “conference”. But maybe punters should not rely too heavily on the official programme, as it was littered with spelling mistakes.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.