Gray under fire over front bench

Published on Saturday 23 May 2009 18:59

SCOTTISH Labour leader Iain Gray was last night facing claims he is too close to London-based members of the party and has surrounded himself with "non-entities" on his front bench.

Labour in the Scottish Parliament is dogged by "incompetent" people and lacks leaders, according to Bob Thomson, a party member and former chairman and treasurer of the Scottish Labour Party.

In an article for the Scottish Left Review, Thomson accused Gray of living off "Westminster patronage" and failing to set out an agenda to distinguish Scottish Labour from the party in London.

Thomson suggested that Gray, who worked as a special adviser to Alistair Darling after he lost his seat in the Scottish Parliament six years ago, owed his position to his closeness with his London colleagues.

"Iain Gray has lived off Westminster patronage since he lost his seat in 2003 and the signs are that he is paying it back with New Labour nonentities like Richard Baker (the justice spokesman] and Rhona Brankin (the education spokesman] trotting out a London friendly line wherever they go," he said.

Thomson made his remarks at a time when senior figures within the Holyrood group are privately suggesting that Gray ought to distance the Scottish party from London.

A Labour spokesman said: "Bob has not agreed with anything Labour has done for the last 20 years. Since Iain Gray became leader, Labour at Holyrood has been both stable and focused."