LAMONT STAYS SILENT AFTER YET MORE BULLYING ALLEGATIONS
As Johann Lamont prepared to address her first Scottish Labour conference as leader this weekend, further questions were raised by the SNP over her authority as her party’s discipline crumbles around her.
In recent weeks, Ms Lamont has stayed silent as the list of allegations about the behaviour of Labour candidates and elected members grows.
• Johann Lamont has yet to make any response to serious
allegations of threats and bullying against Councillor Anne Marie Millar of
Glasgow City Council. These allegations have since been compounded by
the actions of the City Building Board in Glasgow, which summoned Councillor
Millar – the victim – the explain herself, while continuing to take no
action against the alleged perpetrator, Councillor Gilbert Davidson
• On Tuesday 28 February, Labour made a late candidate
selection in the Garscadden/Scotstounhill ward in Glasgow. John Kelly –
the election agent of Margaret Curran MP – was selected, despite being
the subject of another complaint about bullying by a Labour member in
Baillieston
• Former MSP Frank McAveety is being promoted by Labour as one
of its leading candidates for the local elections in Glasgow, despite
being the subject of an ongoing police investigation
• Although she was elected as leader of Scottish Labour MPs,
MSPs and councillors, Ms Lamont took no action in response to the
arrest of Eric Joyce MP, leaving Ed Miliband to suspend the Falkirk
MP. It took Ms Lamont over a week to make any response to the Eric
Joyce case. She has also stayed silent on comments by a Labour HQ
source that Labour would “rather have a nutter than a Nat” in Falkirk
James Dornan, SNP MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, said:-
“Johann Lamont will address her first Labour conference as a leader without control or credibility, presiding over a party whose internal practices increasingly reveal it to be unfit for office.
“I have now written twice to Johann Lamont, asking her to take action following the alleged acts of bullying and intimidation against Councillor Anne Marie Millar, which were witnessed by myself and many others in Glasgow City Chambers a few weeks ago. She has not had the courtesy to reply and has said not a word publicly to condemn this behaviour by
one of her party’s elected members.
“Not only that, the party has gone on to select yet another candidate against whom a complaint of bullying and intimidation has been made. And while over a third of their council group was prevented from standing again for Labour because they were deemed not good enough, a former MSP who is subject to an ongoing police investigation is apparently entirely suitable as a Labour candidate, as is Alistair “Taj Mahal” Watson”
“It’s quite clear that in Glasgow Labour there’s one rule for some people and one rule for others, and if you’re one of the favoured clique you can rely on Johann Lamont to stay silent, no matter how you behave.
“As Labour’s roll of dishonour grows ever longer, voters in Glasgow and across Scotland can clearly see that there is something rotten at the heart of the Labour party – and that its leader Johann Lamont apparently has neither the will nor the inclination to do anything
about it.
“Glasgow and Scotland deserve better – if Ms Lamont is unwilling or unable to get her own house in order, how can she ever seriously be considered as a potential leader of the country?”