The 2017 Scottish Labour Party leadership election was triggered by the sudden resignation of Kezia Dugdale in August. During the campaign to decide her successor,BBC News described Leonard as more left-wing than his rival,Anas Sarwar.[19] Leonard received celebrity endorsement from cult comic book scribe Mark Millar,known for Kick-Ass and Kingsman,who said he was "the most exciting thing to happen up here in decades".[20] On 18 November 2017,it was announced he had been elected as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party,receiving 56.7% of the vote on a 62.3% turnout.[21][22]
Only a few hours after the leadership election result was declared,Kezia Dugdale announced she was set to join reality TV game show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. This would mean she would be in Australia for several weeks while the Scottish Parliament was still in session. Leonard said he would discuss with Labour MSPs whether she would be suspended for failing to notify the party.[23] It was decided she would not be suspended but,instead,sent a written warning from Scottish Labour Parliamentary Business Manager James Kelly. When she returned from Australia,she met with Leonard and other colleagues and released a statement expressing regret at her announcement overshadowing Leonard's victory. She also donated the earnings from her MSP's salary while absent,as well as part of the money earned from the show,to charity.[24]
Leonard somewhat distanced himself from Jeremy Corbyn in 2017,saying "I'm too long in the tooth to be a Corbynista".[27] However,in his 2018 Labour Party Conference speech,he "confessed" to voting for Corbyn to be leader both in 2015 and 2016 because he believed Scotland would need a radical Corbyn government.[28] Under his leadership,Scottish Labour would also go on to adopt the "For the Many,Not the Few" branding of the UK Labour Party.[29]
President of the United States Donald Trump,whose mother was Scottish,travelled to Scotland during his July 2018 UK state visit. Leonard attended protests in Glasgow and outside the Scottish Parliament opposing the visit because of Trump's attitudes and actions towards women,ethnic minorities and the poor.[30] Trump returned to Scotland while on a June 2019 royal visit and Leonard spoke at a protest rally outside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh.[31]
In September 2018,Scottish Labour cut funding for Kezia Dugdale's defence in a defamation case by video games journalist and nationalist blogger Stuart Campbell.[32] They had previously promised not to do so and there was controversy over whether the decision was encouraged by the UK party.[33] Dugdale subsequently won the case on the grounds of principle of fair comment.[34] In leaked messages,Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray wrote,"Ultimately she won her case and the party lost £80,000 as they would've got their costs had they kept their promise." He also wrote the decision was the "final straw" which caused her to leave Holyrood in 2019 and he angrily derided the Scottish Labour leadership as "full of thugs and incompetents".[35]
Leonard carried out a frontbench reshuffle in October 2018,following a series of negative briefings by MSPs close to Kezia Dugdale.[36] He took on the role of Shadow Economy Secretary,dismissing Jackie Baillie. Anas Sarwar was replaced by Monica Lennon,who was succeeded as Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary by Alex Rowley. Both Lennon and Rowley had been allies of Leonard,and ally Neil Findlay was given the added role of Parliamentary Business Manager.[37] Critics of Leonard briefed the reshuffle was a purge of moderate MSPs. They also criticised how Baillie and Sarwar found out about their dismissals;Baillie by phone five minutes before it was publicly announced and Sarwar over Twitter while attending a Holyrood chamber debate. Leonard said the reshuffle was necessary to refresh his frontbench and ensure unity among its members.[38] Former government minister Hugh Henry defended Leonard,arguing Baillie and Sarwar had both been disloyal.[39]
Following the resignation of Kezia Dugdale from the Scottish Parliament in 2019,former MSP and Transport Minister Sarah Boyack took her place on the Lothian regional list. In the September,Leonard appointed her Shadow Local Government Secretary. He moved Alex Rowley to cover Brexit and constitutional relations and moved Shadow Finance Secretary James Kelly to cover justice. He also brought on North Ayrshire Council leader Joe Cullinane as head of campaigns and party engagement. Leonard said the additions would strengthen his core team but admitted Scottish Labour would still "need to make a strong case" to win back voters.[40]
In April 2019,Anas Sarwar's case against Rutherglen councillor Davie McLachlan,who allegedly said "Scotland wouldn't vote for a brown Muslim Paki",was dropped by the National Constitutional Committee on a technicality. In public support of Sarwar,Leonard said,"We have doubled the size of the National Constitutional Committee which hears these cases but,as this case shows,clearly more still needs to be done".[41]
At the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe,Shadow Chancellor of the ExchequerJohn McDonnell insisted a Labour government would not block the holding of a second Scottish independence referendum if the Scottish Parliament voted for one. These remarks met with opposition from Leonard and other Scottish Labour colleagues.[42][43] This caused Jeremy Corbyn to issue a statement that a Scottish Parliament vote could not be the only requirement for a new mandate,other requirements had yet to be met and,if they were met,a referendum would still not be priority for an incoming government. Both Leonard and McDonnell accepted Corbyn's decision on the matter,which was a compromise between their two positions.[44]
2019 European Parliament election and aftermath:April–September 2019
In leaked WhatsApp messages,the "soft Brexit" position taken by Leonard's campaign was criticised by Shadow Minister for Scotland Paul Sweeney,who wrote,"If it's like this then it's a bad misjudgement and I'm having nothing to do with it... Let's hope the NEC [ National Executive Committee] kill this bullshit line." Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Ged Killen wrote that the stance had given the SNP "a new lease of life" and East Lothian MP Martin Whitfield added that Labour was at risk of being "dead in Scotland".[50] Only Jeremy Corbyn's face was placed on the cover of the Scottish Labour campaign leaflet,which Leonard later admitted was a mistake and a missed opportunity to promote himself as more than Corbyn's "man in Scotland".[48]
The result for Scotland was declared on 27 May 2019. Scottish Labour lost both its seats,receiving 9.3% of the vote and coming fifth behind the SNP,Brexit Party,Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Conservatives respectively.[51] In the aftermath,Leonard accepted responsibility and said he would endorse remaining in the European Union,defying the UK party.[48][47] Findlay resigned from his frontbench portfolios and promised to resign as an MSP at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Shadow Justice SecretaryDaniel Johnson also resigned,citing the election result and a lack of clarity on Brexit from Leonard.[47]
In September,Leonard moved Alex Rowley to cover Brexit and constitutional relations and moved Shadow Finance Secretary James Kelly to replace Daniel Johnson as Shadow Justice Secretary. He also brought on North Ayrshire Council leader Joe Cullinane as head of campaigns and party engagement. Following Kezia Dugdale's resignation from the Scottish Parliament,former MSP and Transport Minister Sarah Boyack took Dugdale's place on the Lothian regional list and Leonard appointed her as Shadow Local Government Secretary. Leonard said the additions would strengthen his core team but admitted Scottish Labour would still "need to make a strong case" to win back voters.[40]
2019 general election:November–December 2019
During the 2019 general election,Leonard led the Labour campaign in Scotland. Campaign for Socialism member Lesley Brennan served as his chief of staff,former Morning Star editor Conrad Landin as director of communications and Joe Cullinane as head of campaigns and party engagement.[52][53] The core campaign pledge made by Leonard and Jeremy Corbyn was to invest an extra £70 billion in Scottish public services.[54][55] On a two-day trip to Scotland,Jeremy Corbyn was heckled in Glasgow on the first day and Dundee on the second day. In Glasgow,by a church minister over Corbyn's connections to Islamist terrorists. In Dundee,by a Scottish nationalist. The Church of Scotland later suspended the minister for historic Islamophobic and homophobic social media posts.[56][57]
Scottish Labour saw itself lose the six seats it had gained in the 2017 general election,under Kezia Dugdale. Once again,the party was reduced to holding a single seat. Leonard apologised for the UK party failing to address concerns over Brexit and for the Scottish party not having stopped what he described as the "SNP juggernaut".[58] However,he said he would continue as leader and carry out a listening exercise.[59][60]
Election of Jackie Baillie as deputy leader and resignation:2020–2021
I think we need to see some new blood in here. One of the things the last few days have taught me is we need to see an injection of new voices, a more diverse profile of people.
Leonard on his internal Scottish Parliament critics[61]
When Leonard's deputy Lesley Laird lost her seat at the 2019 general election, she resigned from the deputy leadership shortly afterwards. Jackie Baillie then stood in the deputy leadership election to replace Laird and was elected in April 2020, having been critical of the strategy which resulted in the poor general election result.[62][63]
After Baillie won the deputy leadership, Scottish Labour peer George Foulkes called on Leonard to resign and be replaced by Baillie.[64] Foulkes was joined by James Kelly, Daniel Johnson, Jenny Marra, Mark Griffin and Rachel Reeves.[65][66][67] Leonard accused his critics of never supporting his leadership and mounting "an internal war".[65] He also suggested MSPs could face deselection for showing disloyalty, said attempts to oust him as leader were an "act of sabotage" and confirmed he would fight any challenger for the leadership.[61][68][69][70] In an interview with Sky News, Leonard continued to emphasise his mandate from Scottish Labour members and that there had been five Scottish Labour leaders in the previous six years.[71][72] Kelly and other rebels put forward a motion of no confidence in Leonard's leadership. However, the motion was withdrawn after failing to gain enough support.[73] Leonard later replaced Kelly as Shadow Justice Secretary with Rhoda Grant.[74]
On 14 January 2021, Leonard resigned as Scottish Labour leader with immediate effect. In a statement, he said deciding to step aside prior to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election was "not an easy decision" but the "right one for me and for the party". His Westminster counterpart, Keir Starmer insisted he was "very proud" of Leonard's achievements and said, "I would like to thank Richard for his service to our party and his unwavering commitment to the values he believes in".[75] However, according to The National, potential Labour donors allegedly told Starmer during a Zoom meeting that they would not donate to the Westminster party unless Leonard resigned.[76]
Leonard speaking at the 2018 Labour Party Conference's The World Transformed fringe event
During the 2019 general election campaign, Leonard described himself as a "socialist, democrat and internationalist".[79] He has been described by journalists as being left-wing, on the hard left and hostile to business.[80][81] His politics have been described by allies as radical, conviction-led and based around representing and helping people.[12] An ally of Jeremy Corbyn, his closeness to Corbyn was criticised as costing Scottish Labour in the polls.[82] He is a long-standing member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), which opposes the replacement of Trident with a new nuclear weapons system. However, he has stated he would defer to the position of the UK Labour Party, as defence is a non-devolved matter.[79]
Leonard has said he wants to fundamentally change the Scottish economy and has advocated a shift to a more planned, long-term approach to economic management.[29] He is described in Tom Bower's biography Dangerous Hero as "a Marxist".[83] When questioned over this assertion in an interview with Novara Media's Ash Sarkar, Leonard said, despite having read Marx, he would not describe his politics as Marxist but rather a synthesis of "Scottish radicalism" and those of "post-industrial Utopians".[9]
Leonard has stated leaving the United Kingdom would create larger problems for Scotland than the UK leaving the European Union.[84] He is an opponent of a second Scottish independence referendum and has argued the 2014 referendum, in which Scotland voted to stay by 55% to 45%, was a once in a generation event.[85] While the United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave the European Union by 52% to 48% in the 2016 EU referendum, Scotland itself voted to remain by 62% to 38%. Despite this, Leonard was initially in favour of the UK Labour Party's position of pursuing a "soft Brexit". In the aftermath of his party's poor result in the 2019 European Parliament election, he subsequently agreed to shift his pursuit to the UK remaining in the EU.[48]
A former trade unionist, Leonard argues the Scottish Government must recognise trade unions and pay a real living wage on all its public contracts.[86] He has said he would support Scotland's red meat industry by investing more in abattoirs and rural supply chains, and would aim for full employment in the Highlands and Islands.[5] He has also discussed seeing working time as a unit of currency and aiming for a managed reduction in the length of work weeks.[9] He has stated Scottish Labour has "unfinished business" with land reform and should replace council tax with a property and land tax to force tax burden onto those with more wealth and more land.[28][86] He advocates nationalising Scottish railways, removing Scotrail from private ownership by Abellio, and bus services, with the wider aim of making bus travel free for all.[87][88]
Personal life
Leonard lives in Paisley, Renfrewshire, and is married to Karen, an organiser for GMB Scotland, with whom he has a son and a stepdaughter.[7][89] The couple own a female Hungarian vizsla named Copper.[90] He studies socialist history as a hobby, co-founding the Keir Hardie Society and being a member of the Scottish Labour History Society and the William Morris Society.[13] He is a fan of musician Paul Weller.[91]
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