JIM MURPHY is on the brink of announcing his candidacy for the Scottish Labour leadership, sources said last night but a groundswell of grassroots support is gathering around left-wing MSP Neil Findlay.
Mr Murphy, who is Labour’s shadow international development secretary, will also face a challenge from centrist Sarah Boyack, a longstanding MSP and former minister who was the first candidate to officially declare at lunchtime yesterday.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Mr Findlay prompted a surge of speculation that he will stand after an article he wrote for Wednesday’s Morning Star went viral online following leader Johann Lamont’s unexpected resignation.
The Lothian MSP, who also addressed the Campaign for Socialism conference this weekend, said those who did not favour tackling the SNP from the left were living in “cloud cuckoo land.”
The Morning Star understands leftwingers and unions are likely to unite around the candidate best placed to beat Blairite former minister Mr Murphy. An influential activist source said some figures on the left felt former prime minister Gordon Brown was best suited for this task — but Mr Brown has indicated he will not stand.
But they had high praise for Mr Findlay, who was not expected to win his Holyrood seat in 2011 but pushed through as a regional list candidate after Labour lost scores of constituency seats. “He’s had proper jobs outside of politics, he’s decent, he’s got a sense of humour,” they said. “He’s a real human being, and that’s a definite advantage.”
Bookmakers William Hill cut Mr Findlay’s odds from 16/1 to 5/4 within 24 hours.
At TUC Congress last month, the Morning Star reported that a senior MP and former frontbencher had expressed fears of Mr Murphy seizing control of the Scottish party.
A source close to the election said Mr Murphy had been preparing his challenge for some time. “Murphy has probably been setting up offices and websites like the machine politician he is,” they said yesterday.
“Neil Findlay is fairly new to the Scottish Parliament and needed to take some time and space to consider. That’s part of his appeal but it also explains why he hasn’t given any indications yet.”
Current deputy leader Anas Sarwar, who came under fire earlier this year for sending his son to a top Glasgow private school, ruled himself out on Monday. And youthful MSP Kezia Dugdale has said she will not stand.
Whoever wins will go head-to-head for the Scottish premiership in 2016 with Nicola Sturgeon, who is the only candidate for SNP leader following the resignation of Alex Salmond. Ms Sturgeon is kicking off her leadership with a sold-out speaking tour. In the first event in Edinburgh tonight, she will claim the SNP is “without doubt, Scotland’s party of social democracy.”
Mr Murphy, who is linked to pro-business lobby group Progress, took a leading role in the cross-party Better Together referendum campaign. He was praised for confronting nationalist hecklers head-on at soap-box rallies.
But he attracted derision last year after he wrote to airlines asking them to allow “speedy boarding” for army veterans.
conradlandin@peoples-press.com