Dugdale left ‘crushed’ by her party and ignored by Corbyn
● Former Scottish leader says she feels ‘crushed’ by Labour over legal fees row
Kezia Dugdale admits she felt “crushed” by Labour as she accused Jeremy Corbyn of ignoring her pleas for help in her legal battle with a proindependence blogger.
The former Scottish Labour leader said she had feared she would be declared bankrupt as a result of the UK party’s failure to fully fund her legal fees in the coming court case.
Yesterday Scottish Labour released a statement expressing “full support and solidarity” with Ms Dugdale in her case, putting the party north of the Border in conflict with London.
In a Daily Record podcast, Ms Dugdale said UK Labour’s decision to pull the plug on funding for the case had seen her “hit one of the lowest personal moments” of her life.
Ms Dugdale, a Lothians MSP, is being sued in a £25,000 defamation case by Stuart Campbell, who runs the pro-independence Wings Over Scotland website.
Last week it was reported Labour, which is said to have provided £90,000 towards Ms Dugdale’s costs, would refuse to release further funds despite suggesting it would pay the full costs.
Reports suggested the UK Labour general secretary Jennie Formby was refusing to authorise more funds on the basis the cash would be better spent on campaigning in a potential snap election.
On the podcast, Ms Dugdale said she had tried to contact Mr Corbyn, who she once worked closely with when she ran the Scottish party, about the matter. But the UK Labour leader had not responded.
Ms Dugdale claimed Ms Formby’s predecessor as general secretary, Iain Mcnicol, had initially promised the funds to take on the case.
Ms Formby, who is close to Mr Corbyn, succeeded Mr Mcnicol as general secretary of the Labour Party in March. “There was no question mark over it, they were going to support
this case,” Ms Dugdale said.
“Fast forward 18 months – and it’s pretty shocking it’s taken that long to get to the preliminary hearing, we’re not even at the full proof yet – and I had to find out by email from my solicitor that the Labour party weren’t prepared to pay any more legal bills. Safe to say the one factor that’s changed in that time is the general secretary, it’s a woman called Jenny Formby.
“When I found that out by email, I was pretty crushed to be honest.
“I probably hit one of the lowest personal moments of my life. I have lived through a lot of very stressful situations. I have developed coping mechanisms, but I lost the ability to cope with this for a few days.
“First of all, how was I going to pay? This could mean my house, my livelihood. You can’t be an MSP if you’re declared bankrupt.”
The Scotsman understands the Scottish Labour group unanimously called for the party to fund the whole case when it met earlier this week. But a specific commitment reflecting that position was removed from chair Mary Fee’s statement at Mr Leonard’s behest.
A UK Labour Party spokesperson said: “Kezia Dugdale has received significant support from the Labour Party. The party has a responsibility to all our members and that must mean spending our members’ fees responsibly and appropriately.
The court case arose after Ms Dugdale wrote in a newspaper column she was “shocked and appalled to see a pro-independence blogger’s homophobic tweets”. Mr Campbell’s legal team argues her article was defamatory and implied he was homophobic.