Another victim of Corbyn’s mob? Kezia has to deny being forced out
‘Pass on the baton’
KEZIA Dugdale has denied claims that she was hounded out as leader of the Scottish Labour Party by ‘Jeremy Corbyn’s mob’.
The 36-year-old, who had criticised the Labour leader, stepped down after mounting pressure from the Left wing of the party and days after Mr Corbyn had toured Scotland.
She cited personal reasons and other factors, but sources in the party said the high-profile female leader was ‘forced out by men’ after just two years in the job.
Others said she was ‘ hounded out by Jeremy Corbyn’s mob’ and had received weeks of criticism for not delivering the leader’s message at the General Election.
Just hours after her surprise resignation on Tuesday night, activists moved to seize control of the party and replace her with a pro-Corbyn supporter.
Former deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman called for another woman to lead the party, but two men have been tipped for the post.
When Miss Dugdale announced she would go immediately, she denied suggestions she had quit before being ousted by the Left. Miss Dugdale, who announced in July she was dating SNP MSP Jenny Gilruth, said: ‘ I’m going on my own terms.’
Scottish Labour Party sources said any suggestion that she jumped before she was pushed was ‘categorically untrue’.
In her resignation letter, she said her party needed ‘ a new leader with fresh energy, drive and a new mandate’ to take it into the next Holyrood elections in 2021, and it was time to ‘pass on the baton’.
She insisted she left the party ‘in better shape than I found it’ after taking on the job in the wake of the 2015 general election, in which Labour lost all but one of its MPs in Scotland.
She became the third Scottish Labour leader to quit since the 2014 independence referendum.
Miss Dugdale had faced criticism after she backed Owen Smith to replace Mr Corbyn during the Labour leadership contest in 2016, saying: ‘I don’t think Jeremy can unite our party and lead us into government.’
Her General Election strategy was criticised by Mr Corbyn’s allies and she was accused of being ‘openly hostile’ towards him and of pushing supporters into voting for the Tories.
A report by the Campaign For Socialism group – headed by Labour MSP Neil Findlay, a close Corbyn ally – said Mr Corbyn’s message of ‘ For the many, not the few’ was almost silenced by an anti-SNP campaign. There have been repeated calls for Miss Dugdale to be ousted. Last month, an influential Leftwing publication, the Scottish Left Review, said the ‘Left needs to move to remove her’, stating ‘Labour can’t win in Scotland with Dugdale’.
Pro- Corbyn MSP Richard Leonard looked set to be a contender for the job last night after Mr Findlay declined to stand.
Another Left-wing MSP, Alex Rowley, who was Miss Dugdale’s deputy and is now interim Scottish leader, also said he would not put himself forward.
Anas Sarwar, Labour’s Scottish health spokesman, is also thought to be among the likely candidates to take on the job.
Scottish Labour’s executive meets on September 9 to begin the process of picking a leader.