KEZIA Dugdale has become “totally isolated” in Scottish Labour after her political mentor criticised her for appearing on I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
Iain Gray, who is Dugdale’s closest ally in the Labour group at Holyrood, suggested in an email that all the party MSPs disapproved of her controversial decision to go into the jungle.
The rebuke comes as a Labour source believes Dugdale is likely to lose her top place on the Labour list in the Lothians if she stands for election again, meaning that she would be unlikely to be returned to parliament.
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “It’s no wonder Dugdale’s Labour colleagues, who’ve been left to pick up her slack while she lines her pockets, are furious. This was a self-serving decision and it looks like she’ll have to face the consequences upon her return.”
A spokesperson for Dugdale said: “Kez knows her decision upset some of her Labour colleagues, and the nature of her contract meant that she could not discuss her reasons for appearing on the show with them in advance. She will hold private talks with Labour colleagues on her return to parliament in a few days.”
Dugdale was criticised by fellow Labour MSPs last month after abandoning her parliamentary duties to go on the money-spinning show. She said her inclusion on the programme, which involved her attempting to consume a drink of blended bull penis and ostrich anus, was a platform to promote “Labour values”.
She has also dodged questions on what proportion of the fee – thought to be between £75,000 and £100,000 – will be given to charity.
When Dugdale returns to Holyrood this week, she will be interviewed on her unauthorised absence and could face a disciplinary sanction.
Last month, Gray emailed colleagues about a child abuse campaigner who was on a vigil near the Scottish Parliament. The campaigner pledged to remain camped outside Holyrood for the time Dugdale was in Australia.
In one email, leaked to this newspaper, Gray noted "... I think it only fair to forewarn colleagues that the catalyst for his vigil was Kez going to the jungle.
“However, he did not really major on that when I spoke with him this afternoon, he does know that hers is a personal decision which most (all?) of us disapprove of, and I am not suggesting you should defend it.”
Gray had previously been described as Dugdale’s “mentor and father figure”.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on leaks.”
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