SCOTTISH Labour’s deputy leader narrowly defeated one of the party’s leading moderates yesterday to become the party policy tsar.
MP Lesley Laird beat MSP Jackie Baillie, who was recently fired from leader Richard Leonard’s shadow cabinet, for the post of Scottish Policy Forum Chair.
However, the close result - 33 votes to 28 - surprised party figures who expected Leonard’s number two to win more convincingly.
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A party source also complained that an MP had just been put in charge of the policy process to draw up the next manifesto for Holyrood.
The insider said: “It’s wrong an MP should chair the policy forum. It is another sign we have become a branch office again.”
Leonard, a left-winger and ally of Jeremy Corbyn, became Scottish Labour leader last year after defeating moderate MSP Anas Sarwar.
He is perceived to have had a slow start to his leadership, which has been characterised by factionalism and internal battles.
Leonard attempted to get on the front foot in October by sacking Sarwar and Baillie, who helped run the defeated candidate’s leadership campaign, from his top team.
A party insider told this newspaper that the infighting has quietened down of late, but said the divisions between the Left and the moderates had not gone away.
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At a meeting yesterday, party figures voted for the person who would chair the SPF, which is the party’s official policy-making body.
The SPF oversees and conducts consultation with party members and outside organisations on all areas of devolved policy, with a view to developing the Scottish Parliament manifesto.
Laird, a member of both the Corbyn and Leonard shadow cabinets, had been expected to win comfortably by virtue of being deputy leader, but Baillie ran her close. It is understood the votes of the trade unions, particularly Unite, helped push her over the line.
One senior party figure said Scottish Labour had made progress in recent years in shedding its image of being a branch office of the UK party, but claimed Laird’s victory was another backward step.
The insider added that Laird was already in charge of a review of the Scottish party’s organisation and operations, and should not be chairing the body on devolved policy.
However, left wing Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: "Lesley Laird is doing a great job as deputy leader of Scottish Labour and will now do a great job as the elected chair of our policy body to help drive forward our transformative agenda.
"Scotland needs Labour governments in Holyrood and Westminster to end austerity and fix the crises in our NHS, in housing, and in our public services, and tackle the rising levels of inequality, poverty and homelessness."
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