Anti-Scottish Labour Party

As briefly touched upon in my previous blog posting regarding Gordon Brown, there are mutterings afoot amongst Labour MPs about the number of Scots in the UK Cabinet and the seemingly disproportionate power they wield. This trouble has been brewing for some time now and the language used is very anti-Scottish indeed. Consider the following quotes from a selection of named and un-named Labour MPs.

Stephen Ladyman, MP for Thanet South said:

“It is important to recognise that the election is won or lost in England. We need to have English voices speaking and giving messages that make sense in English communities.”

A Labour MP who lacked the courage to be named said:

“We live in a world where there is a quota for women MPs and there may soon be quotas for black MPs. Why should there not be quotas for the English too? The Scots mafia have dominated Brown’s team for too long.”

Lindsay Hoyle, MP for Chorley said:

“Voters are looking to see a better balance within the cabinet to ensure that all the regions of England are represented.”

The idea that Cabinet Ministers should be chosen, not on merit but on the fact that they are not Scottish is absurd and quite possibly racist. Substitute the word "Scots" for the word "Jewish" in the middle quote from the un-named Labour MP and there would be an uproar yet the gutless Scottish Labour MPs don't even raise a whimper.

There is a good post by Tartan Hero on the subject. He points out that Stephen McCabe, the Labour Whip (and another Scot) is getting abuse for both the manner and the scale of the defeat in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. It sounds like he was handed a poisoned chalice anyway though and it wouldn't be surprising if the tactics came from the top. It seems that he is just seen as another easy target for anti-Scottish sentiment.

Of course, this anti-Scottish sentiment has another point to it. It is an attempt to destabilise Gordon Brown and if the case can be made against Scots being in the Cabinet then his jacket is surely on a shoogly nail. This is nothing more than a proxy fight against his leadership from the Labour Party in England.

The difficulty being faced by these Labour MPs is not just that could they appear to be racist, North of the border, but that they are facing in two directions at the same time. You cannot simultaneously make the case against Scots being in the Cabinet whilst saying that we are all British together and that we are all equals in the United Kingdom. Labour have needed their Scottish battalion in order to force through changes which only affect England and Wales on the argument that we are all British and that as Brits, the Scottish MPs had every right to vote on any matter. How does this square with the idea that Scots should not hold positions of power?

It seems that we are seeing the Labour Party and the Union unraveling before our eyes.