SCOTTISH LABOUR parliamentarians have been banned from using membership lists to promote a candidate in the fractious leadership contest.
Party General Secretary Brian Roy issued the instruction after MP Ian Murray and MSP Daniel Johnson, who represent overlapping seats in Edinburgh, used their local list to back centrist Anas Sarwar.
The intervention caused dismay amongst some members as the local party in Edinburgh Southern had voted to back Sarwar’s rival Richard Leonard.
However, it has also emerged that MSP Neil Findlay used a local list to emphasise his support for Leonard, after the curb was put in place.
The long contest has been soured by rows over Sarwar’s wealth and the employment practices of his family, as well as over a surge of new members and supporters signing up to vote.
At the start of the race, Labour regulated the ability of the Sarwar and Leonard camps to contact the party membership. Phone numbers were handed over to the campaigns, but email addresses were withheld, a decision designed to stop members from being bombarded with messages.
Scottish Labour instead decided that each side could email members once a week, but the communication would be routed through party headquarters.
However, a loophole appears to exist, namely that MSPs and MPs hold the local membership lists for their constituencies.
On October 28, a day after the ballot opened, Murray and Johnson sent a joint email to members in the Edinburgh Southern local party, which is believed to be the largest in Scotland.
They wrote that the contest has “two strong candidates”, but added: “We both nominated Anas Sarwar as we believe he has the experience to lead and has policies that are both clear and bold. We also believe it is vital that we have a clear position of keeping the UK in the Single Market as a minimum, a point Anas has been unequivocal on.
“For these reasons, we would encourage you to consider using your ballot to vote for Anas too. We also both believe that we are not only electing a Leader of the Scottish Labour Party but our next First Minister. That is important for our party but also for Scotland.”
Murray and Johnson also downplayed the decision of their local party to nominate Leonard: “The CLP narrowly nominated Richard Leonard by a margin of 25-20 but we wanted to write to our 1,100+ members directly due to the small number of memebrs [sic] attending the meeting.”
Within an hour Roy, who is in charge of the party machinery, contacted Labour parliamentarians.
“In the interest of fairness, elected members should not use membership lists they hold to promote one of the leadership candidates. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know and I will direct to the Procedures Committee,” he wrote.
Responding to the email by the MSP and MP, an angry local member referred to Murray’s role in the plot to depose UK leader Jeremy Corbyn.
“I was appalled by Ian's undermining of Jeremy Corbyn,” she wrote. “I find the inappropriate tone of this email partisan and biased and am considering taking further action.”
In November, after the Roy message, Findlay emailed members in the Lothians about an article he had written on council cuts.
However, he also wrote: "A number of members have asked me how I will vote and since I am accountable to Lothian members, I think it is only right that I advise you that I will be casting my vote for Richard Leonard as I believe he is the stand out candidate and best placed to take forward and build on, the progress we made at the 2017 election."
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "All elected representatives were given the opportunity to nominate their preferred candidates. It is now up to members and supporters to decide who is best to lead our Party."
Johnson declined to comment. Murray did not respond to a text or voicemail. Findlay confirmed sending the email.
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