Dugdale’s drama is turning into Leonard’s crisis

Richard Leonard should stand up to London over the defamation case against Kezia Dugdale, writes Tom Peterkin

Kezia Dugdale may no longer be the leader of Scottish Labour but she has retained a knack for grabbing the headlines.

Perhaps it should be no surprise that the Lothians MSP has failed to slide unobtrusively to the relative obscurity of the backbenches. She is, after all, the politician who decided that drinking an ostrich anus smoothie with a bunch of Z-listers in the jungle was preferable to supping from the poisoned chalice that became the Scottish Labour leadership.

But unlike her controversial (and lucrative) appearance on ITV’S I’m a Celebrity… Get me Out Of Here!, the latest stushie to engulf Ms Dugdale is not one she wished upon herself.

As her recent outbursts demonstrate, the £25,000 defamation action she faces from the pro-independence blogger Stuart Campbell is a complication that is causing her much anxiety.

Aside for the personal toll the legal action is taking on Ms Dugdale, her travails have serious repercussions for her successor Richard Leonard.

Ms Dugdale’s defamation drama is rapidly turning into Mr Leonard’s leadership crisis.

The turn of events that has raised questions about Mr Leonard’s stewardship of the party is a convoluted tale that has its origins in a column written by Ms Dugdale for the Daily Record.

In one of her weekly contributions to the tabloid newspaper, Ms Dugdale described a tweet posted by Mr Campbell, who is behind the Wings Over Scotland website, as “homophobic”. Mr Campbell’s tweet referred to the Tory MSP Oliver Mundell, the son of Scottish Secretary David Mundell, who revealed around two and a half years ago that he was homosexual. According to Mr Campbell’s tweet, Oliver Mundell was “the sort of public speaker that makes you wish his dad had embraced his sexuality sooner”.

Mr Campbell took umbrage at Ms Dugdale’s characterisation, denies his remarks were homophobic and is set to challenge the Labour MSP in court.

As those who have been following this saga closely know, the Daily Record offered Ms Dugdale legal support when Mr Campbell’s action was launched. But then the newspaper’s lawyers met with Labour officials, who were adamant that the party should deal with it. Labour took on an agency, assembled a team of lawyers and told the Record to step aside.

Things began to go awry for Ms Dugdale when it was revealed that, after paying out £94,000, the UK Labour party had decided to stop paying Ms Dugdale’s legal costs. She gave a series of interviews in which she talked about feeling crushed by her own party. Should the case go against her, she revealed she feared losing her house or even going bankrupt – an outcome that would cost the Labour MSP her job.

Jeremy Corbyn was accused of ignoring her approaches for help as she suggested the decision was down to Jenny Formby, Labour’s new general secretary who happens to be close to the UK leader.

This unseemly row was the cue for all manner of internal wrangling with allies of Ms Dugdale questioning why Labour was abandoning one of their own. In response, the UK party has said it has a responsibility to all its members to spend party funds responsibly – the suggestion being the cash would be better spent on campaigning in anticipation of another snap election.

Since Labour pulled the plug on financing Ms Dugdale’s case, the