JIM Murphy has attempted to create a phoney "clause four moment" for the Scottish Labour Party by quietly renumbering the party's rule book, it has emerged.
Former prime minister Tony Blair famously rewrote the Clause IV section that set out the aims and values of the UK party at the beginning of his New Labour project in 1994.
However, Scottish Labour have a separate rule book, in which its aims and values are included in clause two.
The Sunday Herald has learned that Murphy asked the party's Scottish executive to renumber the aims and values so that his recent rewrite could be described as "clause four".
Following the meeting on January 10, Scottish Labour announced that the section was to be changed to include the words "we work for the patriotic interest of the people of Scotland".
The current version - which is in clause two - states that the Scottish arm of the party will work "for the aims and objectives of the Labour Party".
Clause four in the Scottish Labour rule book, obtained by the Sunday Herald, actually refers to the "rights of individual members".
The SNP have described the planned renumbering as a "meaningless exercise" and one senior Labour source said it was "smoke and mirrors".
Trade union Unison's Scottish organiser, Dave Watson, who was at the Scottish executive meeting when Murphy announced the changes, said: "Everyone keeps talking about clause four but actually it is clause two.
"Part of the rule change will be to renumber it to clause four, but that is entirely for symbolic value."
SNP MSP James Dornan said: "The fact that Labour are freely admitting that symbolism is all when it comes to Jim Murphy's proposed change to Labour's rule book will only strengthen the perception that [he] is more interested in spin than substance.
"Labour's move to hastily renumber its rule book to manufacture a clause four moment speaks volumes about how meaningless this exercise is."
One former Labour politician, who asked not to be named, echoed that view: "This, I am afraid, is quite typical of Jim - smoke and mirrors and copious spin. It is New Labour at its absolute worst.
"I think Jim Murphy realises how serious the long-term diagnosis for Scottish Labour is, but he doesn't realise he is part of the illness."
Another senior Labour source added: "At a time when people are already cynical about politicians, it makes Jim Murphy look a little bit shifty to renumber the rule book to give him his clause four moment."
The revisions set out by Murphy at the recent Scottish executive meeting will now have to be approved by a majority of party members at a special conference in March. Unison's Watson warned that this may not be straightforward.
He said: "The wording a lot of people feel is unnecessarily provocative is the bit about the patriotic interest. It will upset some people. They will cringe when they read that sort of language. It just winds people up. A lot of people think it is just unnecessary.
"I understand why Jim did it. He's chasing that soft nationalist voter that he needs to win back. That's the strategy."
One group of party activists - who formed the splinter group Labour for Scotland after the independence referendum - have hinted they may oppose the changes.
Spokesman Jamie Kerr, who was one of the most high-profile Yes voters in Scottish Labour's ranks during the referendum campaign, said: "Like the Smith Commission, it appears that too many think a quick fix to this complex debate is sufficient. We firmly believe that a full and frank discussion on how we best recreate Labour as Scotland's party is necessary.
"One solution is for us to become the Independent Labour Party of Scotland, with a new constitution drafted by and for Scottish Labour."
A party spokesman said: "Scottish Labour is changing its constitution to state a patriotic commitment to a powerful and permanent Scottish Parliament. For the SNP to dismiss patriotism tells us far more about them than about Scottish Labour.
"Jim Murphy has made it clear: it is a new leadership and new direction for Scottish Labour.
"The proposed change to the Scottish Party's constitution makes clear where the decisions about policies for and about Scotland will be made and why."
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