THE shadow cabinet of Scottish Labour is in turmoil over the UK party decision to stop funding Kezia Dugdale's legal fees in her battle against Wings Over Scotland.
Leaked messages on a WhatsApp group for Labour MSPs and staff reveal the extent of the infighting among some of the party's senior figures, including Jackie Baillie, Neil Findlay and Anas Sarwar.
The row only cooled down after a Labour spin doctor informed MSPs that there are “better forums” for a “private conversation” between parliamentarians.
The leak came amid strong suggestions party leader Richard Leonard is considering an imminent shadow cabinet reshuffle in an attempt to get a grip of his divided MSP group, which meets for its weekly session this afternoon Critics of Leonard argue he is is too close to Jeremy Corbyn and has become a “branch office” leader north of the border.
Dugdale is being sued for defamation after suggesting that a tweet by Wings Over Scotland’s editor Stuart Campbell was homophobic.
Labour’s previous general secretary Iain McNicol promised to meet the costs of Dugdale's legal fees, which are thought to have totalled around £95,000 so far.
But McNicol was replaced by Jennie Formby, a Corbyn supporter, in March and he recently stopped the arrangement.
Labour MSPs believe Dugdale has been treated badly and have called on Leonard to intervene.
The MSP group last week agreed to issue a public statement calling on the Formby decision to be reversed, but it is understood Leonard and his supporters disagreed with the wording and a general “solidarity” message was sent instead.
Yesterday, Leonard ally Rhoda Grant MSP, who as party business manager holds a key position in the leader’s top team, disputed a journalist’s assessment of the solidarity statement on Twitter.
Grant’s tweet triggered a series of messages on the WhatsApp group which confirmed the divisions between left-wingers who defend Formby and moderates who are angry about the decision.
In a dig at Grant, Baillie, who has been one of the strongest critics of the Formby decision behind the scenes, wrote: “I have just arrived home to see a tweet from Rhoda….Firstly I don’t think it is sensible to respond to the press like this. Secondly I don’t want to publicly disagree with the Business Manager about what actually took place at the group.”
Baillie is the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work and played a key role in MSP Anas Sarwar’s leadership campaign.
Findlay, a Leonard loyalist who is the shadow cabinet secretary for Brexit, hit back sarcastically: “Ha the irony in this is something else Jackie.”
Baillie retorted: “Really? So what’s ironic? We have a duty of care to all members of our group. It’s not about factions this is about all of us.”
Findlay replied: “Factions?”
Party head of media Kieron Higgins intervened and issued a “reminder” that “staff” are also part of the WhatsApp group: “There are better forums for what is clearly a private conversation for parliamentarians.”
Baillie replied: “Thank you Kieron.” Sarwar, who holds the health portfolio in the shadow cabinet, then implied that the decision of the Labour group had been ignored: “Thanks Kieron. You are right. That forum is the group. The decisions of that group should then be respected.”
A party source said of the messages: “Richard has no authority over the group. If he is serious about leading Scottish Labour he should be apologising to MSPs for the mess created by Jeremy’s team.”
Scottish Conservative chief whip Maurice Golden said: “This brutal exchange points to a party in absolute meltdown. This is a problem entirely of Labour’s own making, and one that could have easily been avoided. Instead, they’re now at each other’s throats. They can’t possibly do a job of standing up to the SNP while this sort of nonsense goes on.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "We don't comment on leaks."
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