WHAT took him so long?

There are many points to ponder when it comes to Jim Murphy's candidacy for the leadership of Scottish Labour; among them why almost a week has passed from Johann Lamont's doing a Tosca to him emerging as an official applicant for the job.

As far as is known, Mr Murphy was not having trouble with his wisdom teeth (John Major's sick note in the immediate aftermath of Mrs Thatcher's defenestration), nor was he trapped in a lift, or in a mobile phone/email/mail dead zone that prevented him communicating with the outside world. Perhaps his late entry should be ascribed to a hitherto unknown flair for the dramatic. He should cherish that talent, for he will need it.

Still, he is here now, lining up beside Sarah Boyack and Neil Findlay for the job, and he is clear about what he wants to do in the position. He is "not going to shout at - or about - the SNP". He wants to "strike a tone that stops the Labour Party from committing self-harm". (What a strange phrase to use.) He seeks to bring Scotland together again. In general, he wants to talk and listen, care and share, hug and make-up. Behold the applicant who would take over an organisation treated, according to Ms Lamont, like a branch office by London Labour.

So who do we have here - Sunny Jim or David Brent? A leader in waiting in his own right, or just another caretaker manager of The Office?

The stated reason for the delay in Mr Murphy's announcement was that he had been assembling a campaign team, which he will unveil at the official launch of his candidacy tomorrow. Two well-kent faces who will most certainly not be present are Ian Davidson MP and Malcolm Chisholm MSP, both of whom have, to put it mildly, expressed their reservations about an MP becoming leader. This duo seasoned Mr Murphy's chips just as Ed Miliband, Mr Head Office himself, was travelling to Glasgow to take part in Scottish Labour's annual dinner, an event organised long before any of the current unpleasantness occurred.

Mercifully, to spare the blushes of all concerned, it is understood Ms Lamont had an urgent appointment at home with her hair and a bottle of shampoo.

Still, it was set to be quite the occasion (the dinner, not the hair washing), the first real chance the lads and lassies of Scottish Labour have had to break bread since the referendum. Inevitably, talk will have turned to who is best to lead the party now that what was meant to be its hour of triumph has turned into a winter of discontent. From the off, Mr Murphy has been talked of as a shoo-in for the job, with one admirer saying he will be a "leader who leads", and another praising him as "head and shoulders above other candidates".

Yet Scottish voters, if they have a mind to, have several reasons to rain on Sunny Jim's parade. If they were conducting a job interview en masse, they might want to bring up, to take just one example, his support for the Iraq war. If the candidate managed to pass these tests and went to Head Office for a final interview with Ed Miliband, might the not inconsiderable matter of Mr Murphy campaigning for David Miliband for the Labour leadership be raised?

But then as a politician, Mr Murphy has made a virtue and art out of being flexible, of going where he feels he is needed and doing what he believes is right. If we are being generous, then, there is no reason to suspect that he would be a disaster as the new leader of Labour in Scotland. Yet there remain several of what fellow Iraq war supporter Donald Rumsfeld used to call known unknowns.

First, it is one thing to speculate on how Scotland sees the Blairite Mr Murphy, another to find out how he sees Scotland. What did he learn on his "I'm your mate on a crate" tour, apart from how to dodge eggs nearly every time? In his candidacy declaration he spoke of putting social justice at the heart of everything the Scottish Labour Party does. That suggests the placing of clear red water between him and an increasingly pinko SNP. Wonder how that will go down at Head Office as the UK General Election nears.

Second, how will he fare against SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon? Here the unknowns fly thick and fast. How long it will take him to get to Holyrood is one. We ought to learn the answer to that tomorrow. If he is not intending to arrive till 2016, how will he lead his party from afar? His presence in London will be an unending source of joy to opponents, to be brought up at every First Minister's Questions until he arrives. Mr Murphy is a smooth political operator, that soft voice of his at odds with a bite-yer-ankles nature, but he cannot be in several places at one time. A lot can change, moreover, very quickly. It is hard enough to know where Scotland stands now, never mind where she will be in two years.

Should he clear the first two hurdles the third, and perhaps the most difficult, lies in wait. Mr Murphy says he is ready to talk to and listen to Scotland. Is he prepared, however, for some of the home truths he might hear? One could write from now till New Year about the average Scottish Labour voter - their history, their backgrounds, the policies they tend to favour, the ambitions they hold - but as far as Mr Murphy's future as the leader of his party in Scotland goes, it is devastatingly simple. The average Scottish Labour voter is sick to the stomach of being treated as the average Scottish Labour voter. They are beyond scunnered at being taken for granted. They will not give their continued support to a party that cannot, or will not, change alongside them.

Once he has confronted the anger that is out there, what will he do with it? If he stands up to London, as he surely must given the different political weather north and south of the Border, the relationship between London and Scottish Labour might become as dysfunctional as that of the LibDems and the Tories in the Coalition Government, with both parties in the same boat, trying to row in different directions and bickering over destinations. Standing on the shore, observing the chaos, voters will despise them accordingly.

Then there is the real rub with Mr Murphy, the itching powder down the back of his candidacy, the stone in his shoe as he begins the long march towards the renewal of Labour in Scotland. To wit, if he believes so wholeheartedly in advancing the Labour cause in Scotland, why did he choose to make his career in London? Once again, what took him so long to realise where his future lay? Sunny Jim, David Brent, Jim Come Lately - Mr Murphy needs to show Scots who he is, as well as where he is going.