New Scottish Secretary �approached Brown� for job in reshuffle
By John Bynorth

New Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy yesterday signalled his determination to be the prime minister's enforcer north of the Border, accusing the SNP government of suffering from an "ideological obsession" with independence which could destabilise the country during the current global economic crisis.

Murphy, in his first interview since replacing Des Browne, who quit the government after Gordon Brown refused to allow him to stay on as defence secretary in Friday's reshuffle, warned first minister Alex Salmond to stop "picking fights" with the UK Labour government when people feared for their jobs, their pensions, and how to pay off their mortgages and credit cards.

The former Europe minister will represent Scotland's economic interests in the Cabinet, and pledged to work with Salmond and the devolved administration in safeguarding Scottish jobs, especially in the banking sector during the proposed £12.2 billion takeover of HBOS by LloydsTSB.

However, the 41-year-old, the second-youngest Cabinet minister after 38-year-old climate and energy minister Ed Miliband, signalled he would pursue the SNP "relentlessly" over policies he disagreed with, including the local income tax proposals. He told the Sunday Herald: "Mr Salmond was my fourth phone call after telling my mother, my wife Claire and the Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray about my appointment.

"I told Mr Salmond that while we had different visions of Scotland, there are big issues we have to work together on. He said that he looked forward to working with me. We have to set aside other disputes to help the country during these difficult times. I'm glad the SNP and the Conservatives are now willing to work to help Scotland and the UK through this.

"Most Scots really just want politicians to set aside the bickering and ideology. One of the lessons, for me, is that now is not the time to be talking about separating Scotland from the rest of the UK. My approach will be to build a common-sense approach to working together, to do what's best for Scotland and try to build a consensus."

However, Murphy couldn't resist a jibe at Salmond's territorial spats with the UK government and added: "It seems to me the first minister enjoys picking fights with the rest of Britain, and the Labour government."

Murphy accepted that the SNP administration had "got it right occasionally", highlighting the abolition of the Forth Road Bridge toll charges. But he added: "When they get it wrong, I will pursue them relentlessly. I will look after my politics and he can look after his, but my driving ambition is about getting my job right."

One of Murphy's first tasks will be to ensure the rest of the new Cabinet are fully briefed when they meet for the first time on Tuesday, following the revamp which included the surprise recall of EU commissioner Peter Mandelson as UK business secretary after he quit the government twice in 10 years. Murphy said he had approached Brown for the Scotland job and that it will be more powerful after his predecessor's joint brief with defence was dropped from the portfolio.

He added that he will speak to senior Bank of Scotland and CBI Scotland figures before his first Cabinet meeting, after Brown briefed Murphy in a phone call yesterday to "bring a sense of what is happening to Scotland's economy" to Downing Street.

Murphy refused to say whether Brown will campaign in the crucial Glenrothes by-election, as he hadn't had time to "think about Glenrothes", which is due to take place in November.

He added that the main cause of Labour's defeat in last year's Scottish elections was because voters "got the perception that we were taking them for granted that we were too comfortable. People said what are you going to do for Scotland and we talked about what we had done, but politics is about the future."

Murphy knows that Glenrothes is not just about Labour's future, but his own as well, with his East Renfrewshire marginal constituency a key Tory target at the next general election.

Murphy's beliefs were shaped growing up on a council estate in Arden, Glasgow and six years in Cape Town, where he was appalled at the "inequality of the apartheid system" as the world turned against South Africa in the 1980s. He returned aged 18, after refusing conscription into the country's army, and was president of the National Union of Students while studying at Strathclyde University. At 29, he became Scotland's youngest MP in 1997.

He said the new job would allow him to spend more time with his three young children, who he admitted "couldn't care less" about his new post. Murphy added: "It still hasn't sunk in that I'm secretary of state. Last week I was in Budapest, Warsaw and Paris as Europe minister, now it will be Arbroath."