Lesley Riddoch: Sturgeon's Jimmy Choos are taking a walk towards the Left

Published on Sunday 19 October 2008 22:14

SNP strategists are not unhappy that the party is adopting some socialist overtones.

IT WAS a strange feeling of dj vu. The deprivation debate at the SNP conference in Perth sounded almost like Old Labour in full flood again. "The health of a nation doesn't reflect the differing levels of wealth between countries, but the differing distribution of wealth within countries," one delegate argued.

"If Labour is now ideologically opposed to the redistribution of wealth, how can they improve anything?"

And the next speaker put it even more succinctly: "Why is Labour more interested in the dead rich than the living poor?" – a reference to Gordon Brown's inheritance tax cuts.

A first-time delegate pointed out that Scottish Labour has opposed free school meals, the ending of prescription charges, the end of PFI funding for schools, a local income tax and a citizen's income. Policies like these once formed the bedrock of Labour manifestos.

And SNP strategists keen to lose the Tartan Tory tag will be delighted to acquire socialist overtones. But without a practical strategy to match Old Labour's post-war achievements in government, radical rhetoric may not take the SNP very far.

Even though "old" is definitely back in vogue.

Thanks to the efforts of the five-million-dollar man – as Tony Blair has been dubbed over his enormous retainer from American bank JP Morgan – "new" has a hollow ring these days and "old" sounds positively gold-plated.

The very words "Old Labour" form an emotional comfort blanket for many Scots. They conjure up a time when men were men, women were elsewhere, belief in evil capital and the benign state was absolute and conferences were full of comrades, block votes, unions, smoke-filled rooms, compositing committees and, above all, robust policy argument. By contrast, the biggest fallout at Perth was the unsuccessful youth revolt by student Nationalists over raising the lower age-limit for buying booze from off-sales.

Nicola Sturgeon even managed to make light of the leadership's narrow victory when she explained that Kenny "The Enforcer" MacAskill had rushed home to buy his son a drink – for his 21st birthday.

That evening, the compre, Andy Gray, thanked a troupe of young performers with the exhortation, "Away and buy a drink – while you still can", to general laughter.

It was like being in the middle of a family tiff, rather than a political argument.

Indeed, conference speeches were studded with semi-intimate details about life in the inner sanctum. Alex Salmond made a mock complaint that his shins are permanently tender from the swift kicks delivered by his deputy when he strays too far from the point. Hardly likely. But a compelling image for a conference dominated by men of a certain age and women whose desire to emulate the lithe Ms Sturgeon in her Jimmy Choos has meant much swaying and tottering on the approach to the podium.

We also learned that Alex Salmond tried to swap his speaking slot with the Deputy First Minister so he could watch yesterday's Hearts-Hibs derby. The wag. In her swift pen-portrait of cabinet colleagues' behaviour, the health secretary conjured up a ministerial version of the Broons with sensible Maw struggling to keep fitba-loving Paw in check.

Now I'm not suggesting these asides are fabricated. The Nationalist top team have walked together from the political wilderness to their current position of power in Scotland today. But it hasn't exactly been a walk in the park. Rivalry and personal tensions abound, as they do in any group. And yet, in contrast with the humour and affection-free zone created around New Labour, the Nationalists have been very careful to suggest personality, and to administer the human touch. And it works.

Nicola Sturgeon is not quite the John Prescott of the SNP – in bulk or in persona. But, like him, she has started to demonstrate a knack for crowd-pleasing. Her conference speech began with the revelation she had been watching tennis backstage: "And I can reveal Andy Murray has just beaten Roger Federer…"

The rest of the sentence was drowned out by the biggest roar of the conference.

Like Prezza, Nicola also fulfils a vital function. She compensates for her business-leaning leader with her labour-leaning tendencies. Last year she cheekily invoked the memory of Labour's cherished son Nye Bevan with her announcement of a council house building programme. This year she once again nodded to the architect of the welfare state by announcing that NHS car parks would henceforth be free and no more cleaning or catering services would be awarded to the private sector.

This is all fine, but begs some big questions. According to union representatives, most hospitals have already stopped charging for car parks. And, thanks to the Agenda for Change forged by Labour's Susan Deacon and Malcolm Chisholm, private contractors pay a minimum wage of 7.50 across the sector. Certainly, contracted-out staff don't get pensions. But health is no longer the critical battleground for low-pay campaigners.

Looming ahead are far bigger challenges. Strikes by workers on 5.95 an hour pressing for real pay rises as billions are poured into saving banks. And a likely end to council co-operation after news of John Swinney's latest unfunded council tax freeze.

Changing economic realities hardly register in Scotland's jobless, hopeless big housing schemes – untouched by the best intentions of successive Labour governments, New and Old. And, despite all the constraints of being a credit-crunched, minority government, next year's speech by the deputy leader of the SNP cannot invoke the memory of Nye Bevan without travelling much further towards the egalitarian society he wanted to create.