“You’re gonna open your mouth and lift houses off the ground. Whole houses, clear off the ground.”
So spake Leo McGarry in the West Wing series, highlighting the oratorical power that his friend and President-elect Jed Bartlett possessed.
While some prematurely see Iain Gray as Scotland’s First Minister elect, albeit without the same rhetorical flair and building-lifting verbal ability that the admittedly fictional Bartlett possesses, there was at least a wind in the rafters created by yesterday’s valiant and aggressive performance at Labour’s Oban conference.
For Iain Gray, trying harder seems to equate to shouting louder so one must wonder what sort of rage machine the Labour leader will be by the time he is at his most trying come May next year.
The primary positive from yesterday’s speech was that it was policy heavy, though it could have been heavier still with a staunch defence of why his party believes we need to raise Council Tax. A single Scottish police force, a Scottish care service and a 1-to-1 tuition project for unemployed teachers are all positive ideas that are worthy of consideration.
However, much of what Iain Gray said yesterday, via a delivery that still needs a strong polish, was inane nonsense. Even the short part that I was able to see live felt interminable.
Overly long and irrelevant content on teaching, working abroad, Keir Hardie, the NHS in 1948 and Pinochet for goodness sake… I mean this in the nicest possible way, noone cares. As for the line “the worst of housing makes the best of people”, one can only wonder what monstrous policy idea that ludicrous soundbite emanated from. One suspects that there will be an uprising from the downtrodden if Gray’s working class hero schtick continues to be so clumsily and insultingly deployed.
The overriding impression that I (and my fellow onlookers) were left with was that this was a speech steeped in negativity and Labour still lacks a key message, a reason for all the sound and fury; something other than being for winning and against losing at least, to borrow another West Wing line. Even the Labour stalwarts looked dullly uninspired as they obediently clapped at respectful intervals.
Don’t get me wrong, there is the beginnings of something there, a restirring of the Scottish Labour beast but this Oban Conference still left us to mull over what Labour’s core message is. What’s the story from Tobermory? Well, wouldn’t we like to know.
And for me, Labour’s problem is this. Scotland doesn’t really need radical change right now. The next Government, regardless of party affiliation or constitutional aspiration, just needs to batten down the collective hatches for a few years. It needs to safeguard as many jobs, put as many students into universities and colleges, protect as many OAPs from a good number of risks and create as fertile an economy for sustainable growth as it possibly can. That’s not radical, it’s straightforward management and a business that the SNP has already marked itself out as an effective provider of.
So genuine questions, and ones that Scots will be asking themselves soon are: Why do we need Jackie Baillie instead of Nicola Sturgeon? Why do we need Baker instead of MacAskill? And, most pertinent of all, why do we need FM Gray instead of FM Salmond?
One can point to reasons why we moved from Labour to Tory in 1979, from Tory to Labour in 1997 and from Labour to SNP in 2007. That reason does not yet exist in 2010 and is the message that Iain Gray, and Scottish Labour as a whole, still need to find in advance of May 2011.
#1 by Indy on October 31, 2010 - 10:48 am
“What’s the story from Tobermory?”
Well for me one of the interesting pointers from Labour’s Conference is that they are clearly skint. That was a Conference done on a shoestring budget.
That is interesting and significant in that money is important. I’m not saying it should be but it is. The SNP outspent Labour for the first time in history in 2007 and won the election. If the SNP can outspend Labour in 2011 …
The underlying issue is perhaps that Scottish Labour is still set up primarily to contest Westminster elections. Their constituency and branch structures are built on Westminster boundaries. They put everything they ,plus the kitchen sink, into the 2010 election, whereas the SNP spent relatively little.
Has that now left Labour without the financial resources to run a really effective Holyrood campaign?
#2 by Daniel (a recovering Labour supporter) on October 31, 2010 - 12:36 pm
The leaders of all the main political parties in Scotland have absolutely no appeal to me. Including Alex Salmond – although I suppose he is preferable to Sturgeon. (Coming from someone who is independence-neutral)
I’ve heard a lot of Labour people in particular claiming that all the ‘best and brightest’ are drawn south of the border… still I don’t know who would be a good replacement for him?
The trend in Scottish Labour leaders certainly isn’t looking good!
Last time I checked Labour were about 10pts ahead of the SNP in the polls, does anyone know if this is still the case?
#3 by Jeff on October 31, 2010 - 5:08 pm
Indy, a fine point that it’s not all about policies come May ’11 as money has a a part to play too.
You could say Labour are being smart by having a shoestring Conference and saving their money for the election but I don’t think you’d let me off with what is probably not true.
The SNP may well have outspent Labour last time but will Brian Souter stump up again? That £500k donation in 2007 must have made up about 40% of SNP’s total spend last time. I suspect Labour’s trade union cash is a bit more reliable.
Money is not the only resource of course. Labour can send busloads of door-knockers from south of the border but the SNP, needless to say, does not enjoy that same option.
Overall I’d say that resource-wise it’s looking about even between the top two parties, hence my belief that the central message will be key.
#4 by Jeff on October 31, 2010 - 5:24 pm
“The leaders of all the main political parties in Scotland have absolutely no appeal to me. ”
Fair enough Daniel but your rejection of all 4 (5?) party leaders does beg the question of who it is you are hoping to come along to rescue us?
Sure, there’s plenty of knockabout stuff on here about all parties but Scott, Harvie, Goldie, Salmond and, yes, even Gray are all good, intelligent, well-meaning people in this business for the right reasons. While some may struggle to explain those reasons in cleary defined terms, I wouldn’t say Scotland is badly served by its political leaders and there is certainly enough variety to pick a favourite or at least a least worst, though I will always hope for better and better from those who make our laws and spend our taxes.
As for polls, I believe Labour are between 5-7 points ahead per the latest YouGov but I would point out that in Sweden the Social Democrats (v Labour like) were ahead by a good amount and it was their disappointing leader who cost them the victory in the end.
I can well imagine the same happening in Scotland with the SNP pulling through, though I must say I think (not yet sure) that I’m more concerned with the Greens getting a record showing than I am with who forms the actual
Government. As I say, we don’t need radical change so does it ‘really’ matter who wins?
#5 by Allan on October 31, 2010 - 5:56 pm
Not really sure why Grey needs to defend his policy on Council Tax rises, as he appears to have got away with it so far.
#6 by Jeff on November 1, 2010 - 1:12 pm
No, I guess he doesn’t ‘need’ to defend his Council tax policy Allan, fair point, but it does suggest a lack of confidence in its popularity if he avoids it in his keynote Conference speech.
A long way to go though, with not that many policies up for debate, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of scrutiny.
#7 by James on October 31, 2010 - 6:01 pm
For two alternative views, the Burd was more impressed, and so too was Kenny Farquharson.
#8 by Indy on November 2, 2010 - 11:09 am
The thing that struck me about Gray’s policy announcements is that he has set himself on a collision course with his own councillors who rather like the end of ring fencing etc and don’t want to go back to the days where they were told what to do by Holyrood.