SCOTTISH Labour general secretary Ian Price has been elbowed aside in his party's referendum campaign, party sources have said.
The Sunday Herald has been told that senior organiser Sheila Murphy was brought into the fold amid concerns from senior Labour figures about the party's strategy and effectiveness on the ground.
Price was recruited last year after councillor Colin Smyth stood down from the role.
He was tasked with putting together an operational strategy for winning elections and delivering a programme of internal reforms.
It was also hoped he could help unite a party known for its fractious relations between MSPs, MPs, councillors and trade unions.
However, although Labour has won by-elections on Price's watch, some elected representatives have been unimpressed with him and think he has had a slow start.
They believed more experienced organisers were required to fight the SNP and push through organsational change.
The Sunday Herald understands there was a shake up of Labour's campaigning strategy in the spring.
Murphy, the former regional director of Labour North West, arrived at party headquarters to work on Labour's distinct referendum campaign.
The veteran organiser is a respected figure in the party and is believed to have sharpened up Labour's campaigning machine.
Renowned party fixer Frank Roy MP joined the pro-UK campaign group Better Together in April in a "political co-ordination" role, a job one source described as "Labour's eyes and ears" in the body.
Senior party figures said Murphy's arrival did not reflect well on Price.
One insider said: "Ian Price came with a good reputation, but it's recognised he's not been great at some aspects of the job. Sheila Murphy was brought in to shore up Scottish Labour, while Frank Roy was also introduced to ensure we get the right result in September."
Another Labour source said: "Sheila was brought in because people were worried about the Labour campaign."
Price, who used to be head of public affairs at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland (RSPB), has the support of Scottish leader Johann Lamont.
However, Lamont is the subject of speculation about her own future.
Senior party figures believe Lamont, who reluctantly stood for the leadership in 2011, is unlikely to be in charge by the time of the next election.
Potential candidates in any contest include deputy leader Anas Sarwar, East Renfrewshire MP Jim Murphy and Kezia Dugdale MSP, a favourite of Lamont's allies.
An SNP spokesman said: "The leadership and key politicians in the Labour Party in Scotland are fighting like ferrets in a sack.
"It is little wonder that more and more Labour voters recognise Scotland would be a fairer country with a Yes vote which offers the chance for a rejuvenated Labour, free to make its own decisions and no longer needing to dance to a Tory Westminster tune."
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: "Our General Secretary Ian Price is playing a pivotal role at the centre of Scottish Labour's campaign - a campaign which is going from strength to strength and stretching our lead over the nationalists."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article