Dugdale blow as Blairite ally fails to land top policy role
KEZIA Dugdale has suffered yet another setback as Scottish Labour leader after a political ally failed to become the party’s new policy guru. Mandy Telford, who is listed as a board member of the Blairite pressure group Progress, was snubbed after an interview with an MSP panel.
It means all three of Dugdale’s top Holyrood aides are men, despite her commitment to gender balance.
Scottish Labour’s third place in the Holyrood election led to a steep reduction in the amount of Short Money – public cash for the Opposition – given to the party.
To fill a £150,000 black hole, Dugdale secured agreement to merge existing funding streams to help pay for a new “leader’s political office” and resource unit.
This is funded by each of her MSPs paying over £10,000 from their publicly-funded allowances into a central pot.
Telford, who already works for Labour at Holyrood, is a friend of Dugdale and was expected to get the job of director of policy.
The former National Union of Students’ president is a well-known face in New Labour circles and used to be a special adviser to former Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell.
She was elected in 2014 as a strategy board member of Progress, the Blairite group hated by the party left.
Telford also supported MP Liz Kendall’s doomed bid for the Labour leadership in 2015.
A party source said the MSP panel had interviewed Telford, but opted against giving her the job. David Ross, formerly a party spin doctor, has been drafted in as “acting” director of policy.
Dugdale has achieved gender balance in her shadow cabinet, but the most senior backroom appointments are all male: Ross works with communications director Alan Roden and political director Martin McCluskey.
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “We don’t comment on internal staffing arrangements.”
The job snub occurred before hostilities between Dugdale and UK leader Jeremy Corbyn flared up in Liverpool last week. Dugdale gave qualified support to Corbyn after his leadership victory, but became embroiled in a row with him over the plan to give Scottish Labour more autonomy.
In the end, she won a decisive victory after the UK conference backed the proposal for Scottish Labour to appoint a member to the ruling national executive committee.