SCOTTISH Labour leader Richard Leonard has been accused of tying himself in knots after claiming that a doctor on £100,000 a year is working class.

Leonard, who has endorsed calls to redefine class, said the label related to people are paid for their labour.

A critic said this could mean company chief executives falling into this category, while Leonard has himself said a small business owner earning £25,000 a year would not.

Since becoming leader in 2017, Leonard has tried to shift the debate in Scotland from the constitution to issues relating to poverty, redistribution of wealth and public ownership.

However, even his allies on the Left believe he has struggled to change the political weather, with the party slumping to fifth place at the recent European election.

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An important part of his political outlook is the belief in uniting people on the basis of their social class. In March last year he said: “I am wedded to the John Maclean [a socialist during the Red Clydeside era] idea of rising with your class not out of your class. Trying to improve the outcome for everyone is something that appeals to me rather than asking how you can fulfil people’s individual aspirations."

He also mentioned the word in his first conference speech as leader and claimed in December that “working class solidarity” was the “only viable” resistance to racism.

Leonard mentioned “class” on seven occasions in a recent piece and retweeted another article which focused on uniting working people across the country.

In an interview with The Herald on Sunday in May, Leonard addressed his party’s dismal result at the European election, but also he attempted to clarify what he meant by class.

Asked to define “working class” in 2019, he said: “People who are paid for their labour.”

Put to him that this could include doctors, he replied: “Yes ... so long as they are not self-employed.

“You can point to some people at the top end of that scale, but I think for the majority of people they may not see themselves socially as working class, but I would say that economically the vast majority of people in this country are working class.”

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Asked whether, according to this definition, a small business owner earning £25,000 a year would not qualify as working class, whereas a doctor on a six-figure salary who sells his labour would, he said:

“Yes, because it is about your relationship with the economy. It’s about where the balance of power lies in the economy, and whether you are an owner of wealth, or whether you are a creator of wealth.”

Leonard, who attended the Pocklington private school in Yorkshire on a scholarship, also addressed whether he considered himself to be working class: “As an elected politician, it is difficult to necessarily put me into a class. I am a servant of the people.”

However, asked the same question about his time working for the GMB trade union, the Old Pocklingtonian said: “Yes. And representing working class people to try and get justice.”

He added: “The construct of employment law in this country is still based on a master/servant relationship.”

A Labour source said: “By Richard’s definition, someone employed as a chief executive would be considered working class. It seems flimsy.”

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Scottish Tory shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser said: “While Richard Leonard and his hard-left Labour cronies are tying themselves in knots over class, the rest of Scotland is just trying to get on with life.

“Labour’s obsession with class is rooted in bitterness and envy, and simply isn’t replicated anywhere across Scotland. It’s no wonder their party is dying before their very eyes.”