Meeting of the Parliament 30 September 2015
I thank the Labour Party for bringing this important subject to be debated. After the events of this week, it is encouraging to learn that the Labour Party is able to agree on at least one subject that it is prepared to have a debate on.
This is the first time that we have had a debate in the chamber from Labour in its new Corbynite clothes, and I look forward very much to hearing how the Corbyn approach will be reflected in the Labour speeches this afternoon. Perhaps we had a flavour of that from Jackie Baillie earlier, when she took us back to 1945.
I welcome Jeremy Corbyn’s election. As a Conservative, I am delighted that he is now leader of the Opposition at Westminster. However, I am surprised to see that the new real power in Scottish Labour, and Jeremy Corbyn’s vicar on earth, is missing from the Labour benches. I refer, of course, to my good friend Neil Findlay. He is the true believer in Corbynism on the Labour benches. Unlike Kezia Dugdale, who said that Jeremy Corbyn would leave Labour shouting from the sidelines, Mr Findlay was a true believer from the start. He is the one with the hotline to his boss, and he is the most powerful man in the Scottish Labour Party now. As we speak, he is no doubt down in Brighton plotting his Corbynite purge of the moderates. The Fauldhouse Robespierre will be convening his committee for public safety. If I were Jackie Baillie, I would be very afraid.