One of the greatest ironies of these past 15 years of Scottish home rule is that Labour never really got devolution.
Sure, it talked a good game. From Donald Dewar all the way through to Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour Party championed its achievement in creating the Scottish Parliament as if that, in itself, proved its passion for the cause of devolution. But there has always been a big gap between what Labour said – “we are the party of devolution” – and what it did.
Its real attitude was exposed in the contempt with which the party treated the very first parliament, in 1999. Those who had hoped for a new parliament of fresh Scottish talent were sorely disappointed. Labour pushed a load of hopeless ex-councillors, party time-servers, trade union lackeys and dull bureaucrats and assorted yes-men into the parliament – instead of searching out a new generation of leaders.
It used Holyrood as a reward for those who had done their time but were considered not good enough for the Commons – and when you look at some of Labour MPs Scotland has elected over the last 30 years, you can tell that the bar must have been pretty low already.
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