KEZIA Dugdale has said it is “unlikely” she will ever return to frontline politics as she announced she is due to quit Holyrood for a new job at Glasgow University, but added: “Never say never.”
The former Scottish Labour leader confirmed she will stand down as an MSP in July, before taking on a new role as director of the John Smith Centre.
It comes after a stormy few years in which she resigned as leader, fended off a £25,000 defamation action and appeared as a contestant on I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
But she suggested she wasn’t going to write her tell-all memoirs just yet.
She told journalists in Holyrood: “I have diaries; they are my diaries. There is no book deal.”
The Lothian MSP, who has been a long-standing critic of the current Labour leadership’s Brexit position, would not be drawn on how much this clash fed into her decision.
She insisted she had not been looking to leave Holyrood, adding: “I love being an MSP and it’s going to be really hard to leave in the middle of July. But I’m leaving to do something I consider to be really important.”
Ms Dugdale said she was approached by an external headhunting agency in mid-February about the university job, and then underwent a “rigorous” interview process.
She will be paid up to £63,463. Her current MSP salary is £63,579.
In a statement, she said it had been an “honour to represent the Lothian region for Labour in the Scottish Parliament, and to have had the opportunity to serve the party in a variety of roles for over a decade - from party organiser to leader”.
She said: “All through that time the passion and commitment of our members has been inspirational. No matter how difficult things were activists were always willing to hit the doorsteps to spread Labour’s message.
“I have devoted my working life to public service, and this is an incredibly exciting new opportunity for me to lead the work of the John Smith Centre. Throughout my career I have taken on tough and challenging tasks, and my next task is to rebuild faith in our politics.
“Disruptive events and the rise of populism has led to increasingly polarised and emotional politics where rational, evidence-based thinking has lost its standing. Faith in public service, politics and the political process has to be restored and that progress must be sustainable.”
Ms Dugdale’s announcement came after reports emerged at the weekend that she was preparing to leave Holyrood.
She will be the first full-time director of the John Smith Centre for Public Service, which is part of the university’s school of social and political sciences and “promotes a positive vision for representative politics”.
It was established in 2014 and named in memory of the former leader of the UK Labour Party who was an alumnus of Glasgow University.
Ms Dugdale became Scottish Labour leader in August 2015, before stepping down two years later.
Earlier this month she successfully defended a defamation action brought by pro-independence blogger Stuart Campbell, who runs the Wings Over Scotland website.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wished the MSP “the very best for the future” on Twitter. Mr Leonard said Ms Dugdale would be a “loss to the Scottish Labour Party”.
Asked if she would return as an MSP, Ms Dugdale said: “I think that’s unlikely, because this is my focus for the future. But never say never.”
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