WHAT do you do if you’re a Labour MP determined to prove your Unionist credentials?
Do you wrap yourself and your party in a Union flag? That’s what one leaked memo – publicly backed by Ed Miliband – suggested the party do.
Do you proclaim that Labour is now the “party of patriotism” and declare celebrating the Platinum Jubilee every person’s “patriotic duty”?
Or do you answer any questions about a second independence referendum as rapidly as you can to show that you will never even consider working with the SNP?
Having exhausted the first few options, Labour seems to have turned to the third, resulting in a little embarrassment.
The party’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, was appearing on Sky News on Wednesday when his determination to prove he is firm on the issue of the Union led to him putting his foot in his mouth.
“We are a Unionist party, we believe in the Union, we can rule that [indyref2] out categorically,” Lammy said.
The host then asks: “And is the branch office in Glasgow going to be saying the same thing?”
“Yes,” Lammy emphatically responds.
Oops. Perhaps he should have thought about that first.
"We are a unionist party, we believe in the union" says Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy, when asked about Labour's position on a second Scottish independence referendum - adding he could "rule it out, categorically".#KayBurley: https://t.co/G9cmyYo1Ui 📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/zxRcOs2uZQ
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 15, 2022
Scottish Labour is its own entity making its own decisions – isn’t it? It’s not just a branch office taking orders from London – is it?
It seems no one briefed Lammy on that line, or they did and he was too eager to rule out indyref2 that he forgot all about pretending that Anas Sarwar has any say over anything at all.
The Jouker wasn’t the only one who noticed.
The Times’s political editor Keiran Andrews noted: “Not contesting the premise of Scottish Labour being a ‘branch office in Glasgow’ is … bold.”
While SNP MSP and former minister Graeme Day added: “David Lammy confirms how London Labour view Anas Sarwar’s #BranchOffice.”
SNP staffer Fraser MacDonald said it was “quite something that senior Labour politicians don't even flinch at the mention of ‘the branch office in Glasgow’”. “Anas Sarwar will be pleased,” he added.
Alba’s East Lothian branch tweeted: “Interesting development when Sky refer not to Scottish Labour but to the branch office in Glasgow.
“Fascinating that David Lammy accepted it and didn't correct it.”
Labour (not the branch office, the actual one) have been approached for comment.
