Dugdale to face party wrath over TV show
Scottish Labour says Kezia Dugdale’s decision to take part in a TV game show will be the focus of a Holyrood group meeting later this week.
It could mean their former party leader facing disciplinary action over her participation in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Backbencher Neil Findlay said her move “demeans” politics and claimed that she was failing in her duties.
The controversy comes as new leader Richard Leonard sets about his first week in the job.
The prospect of Labour disciplinary action against former leader Kezia Dugdale over her appearance on I’m A Celebrity Get Me out of Here will be become clear in a crunch meeting of the party’s Holyrood group this week.
The Lothians MSP has faced stinging criticism from her own Labour colleagues over the move, with backbencher Neil Findlay claiming yesterday it “demeans politics”.
But Ms Dugdale’s partner, the SNP MSP Jenny Gilruth, went on the offensive yesterday as she accused Labour politicians of “bullying”.
New party leader Richard Leonard met with Labour parliamentarians yesterday, but the row over Ms Dugdale was off-limits.
“The situation was not discussed,” a party spokesman said.
“That will take place at a meeting of the Scottish parliamentary group during the week.”
Mr Findlay offered a withering assessment of Ms Dugdale’s decision to travel to Australia for the ITV reality show, where she will appear alongside Boris Johnson’s father Stanley.
“I think it’s utterly ludicrous – a ludicrous position,” Mr Findlay said.
“When you think we’re in a situation where we’re in the run-up to the budget in Scotland, where local government is on its knees, where the NHS is showing pressures like never before, when people’s living standards are falling and they expect their MPS, MSPS, councillors – elected representatives – to be in, fighting on their behalf.”
He added: “I think it demeans politics.”
But Ms Gilruth hit back on social media, contrasting Mr Findlay’s comments with an unflattering cartoon tweet he previously posted referencing Nicola Sturgeon’s anatomy.
She later added: “I see @scottishlabour have developed their own unique take on the final day of #Antibullyingweek.”
Ms Dugdale’s decision has come under fire from other Labour MSPS with Jenny Marra describing it as a “shortcut to celebrity” and Mr Leonard voicing his disappointment. Jeremy Corbyn said it would be wrong to suspend her.
Ms Dugdale has said she would donate a portion of her appearance fee from the show to charity, along with her earnings as an MSP while she is not at parliament. She has defended the move as a platform to promote Labour politics to a TV audience of millions.
The responses have ranged from the po-faced (where has her dignity gone?) to the furious (how dare she abandon her constituents?).
Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale’s decision to join ITV’S reality show, I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, provoked some remarkable reactions. Friends of the MSP all but disowned her and Scottish Labour’s newly-elected leader, Richard Leonard, was discussing the possibility of her suspension from the party. We’re afraid that we don’t share their anger.
Ms Dugdale had a positively miserable two years as leader of the Scottish Labour Party. She endured the disdain of the electorate and the plotting of her colleagues, as far as we could see, with good humour.
Who would begrudge her a little fun? It is certainly true that the Lothians list MSP will not be available to constituents while she is in the Australian jungle, but we daresay they will manage without her for a fortnight.
Compared to some of the things politicians have said and done in the past couple of years, Kezia Dugdale’s decision barely merits the raise of an eyebrow.