ON hearing someone has a new job it is customary to send a card wishing them all the best. One wonders, however, if Hallmark has ever made a card big enough to convey all the luck Lynn McMath is going to need as she takes on the job of spin doctor to Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard.

His fourth press chief in 16 months, Ms McMath is said to be a good signing: experienced, likeable, an ideas woman. How is she at miracles, though? Any chance of her turning her hand to the political equivalent of changing water into wine? For that is what Scottish Labour needs as it staggers towards its spring conference in Dundee this weekend.

With membership falling, donations down, and impact lessening by the day, the long, slow decline of Scottish Labour continues. The party has become the embarrassing relation of Scottish politics, the one that has to be invited to events because, well, the poor soul does not get out much. They are not doing any harm in the corner, nursing a drink and talking about the old days when vast swathes of Scotland were the colour of the people’s flag.

It is a cautionary tale every political party should heed. There is a long list of reasons for the condition Scottish Labour is in, from the party’s arrogance-induced idleness to its inability to adapt to Scotland’s changing political landscape. If we were to go through all the factors in detail we would be here till Christmas 2020, and it’s Brexit O’Clock already and not a dish washed.

Just as a patient at A&E undergoes assessment, so the political doctor, spin or otherwise, must zero in on what action needs to be taken immediately, and what can wait. In short, we need to talk about Richard.

Richard Leonard? Leader of Scottish Labour? Medium height, grey hair, Tetley tea folk accent, given to wearing red ties? Asks the third question at FMQs? Yes, that’s the one.

To appreciate the sorry state of Scottish Labour today one only has to have watched the first instalment of Paul Mitchell’s enthralling new documentary Yes/No: Inside the Indyref, containing as it did interviews with Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and Jim Murphy. It was like the famous graphic showing the evolutionary stages of man, from crouching to upright, but in reverse. Once, Scottish Labour produced future Prime Ministers and Chancellors of the Exchequer. Beginning with Jim Murphy, however, the calibre of leader has been less high office and more David Brent from The Office. No offence to Brent.

On the eve of any party conference it is customary for grievances to be aired and tussles take place over the agenda. Conferences are one of the rare times when parties can more or less be guaranteed coverage, even if it is just a line in a radio bulletin. What better time to raise your voice?

Spin doctor number four for Leonard

But Mr Leonard is now embroiled in not one, not two, but three pre-conference fights. First, his inability to show the faintest leadership in tackling anti-Semitism within the party has been demonstrated, once again, by the rejection of a conference motion demanding “robust disciplinary measures” for such behaviour. The Eastwood branch that proposed the motion has been told to submit it to the party conference in September. Good luck with that. So an ideal opportunity to take a strong stand against the toxic racism that has swept up from down south has instead become another own goal for the party.

Debating the matter in Dundee would have shown that Mr Leonard was his own man, ready to take steps to distance himself from London when necessary. This has been an unofficial part of the job description of Scottish Labour leader since Johann Lamont quit the post in frustration at London treating the party in Scotland as a “branch office”. Mr Leonard, however, seems to go out of his way to give the impression that he and Jeremy Corbyn are as close as two coats of paint, as if this is some kind of recommendation. Any other half-able UK Labour leader would have the party surging ahead of the Conservatives amid the chaos of Brexit. Instead, Labour has become a grisly sideshow, its dithering leader unable to form a position that he can communicate clearly, or get behind fully.

Eve of conference bout number two involves Mr Leonard and Gary Smith, the head of Mr Leonard’s own trade union, GMB Scotland, for which he worked for more than 20 years. Mr Smith told The Herald on Sunday that the Scottish Labour leader had not done enough to tackle anti-Semitism, and had missed a chance to pick up on Remain sentiment in Scotland by backing a second EU referendum. Attacks by union leaders on Labour politicians are hardly novel (Tony Blair relished them), but this one hit home because it summed up general criticism of Mr Leonard.

Union chief slates Labour leader

Bout number three is the latest one, involving Mr Leonard’s predecessor, Kezia Dugdale. As reported by Tom Gordon, political editor of this parish, Ms Dugdale is furious at her party’s leader, accusing him of airbrushing out of history, or rather the conference guide, a statement from former MEP Catherine Stihler supporting a second EU referendum.

Ms Dugdale has now lodged a formal complaint about the man who gave her a written warning for running off to join the I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here circus instead of serving her constituents in parliament. That last sentence sums Scottish Labour up perfectly for the blend of low farce and mutual recrimination it has become.

At this point it would be the done thing to suggest writing Mr Leonard’s leadership off as an interesting failure and naming possible replacements. Yet no-one of any serious merit wants the job, for to do so means throwing in their lot with the current leadership in London. What ails Scottish Labour cannot begin to be tackled until the rot stops in London, and it will take a General Election, or a very bad Brexit, to bring that to a head. The people’s party is letting down those most in need of its help. If that does not change soon it will not deserve to exist.

Read more: Leonard and Dugdale at war