Permission Slip

Jim Murphy has declared the Scottish Labour Party independent.

Independent, to promote the privatising and pro-austerity programme on which he openly and comprehensively defeated a candidate of, in United Kingdom terms, the Labour mainstream and a candidate of the Labour Left.

And independent, to promote his hardline neoconservative foreign policy views. Expect that to be a considerable nuisance in the next few years. Indeed, quite conceivably for very many years to come.

Oh, well. Let the Scottish Labour Party fund itself independently, then. The advocates of Murphy's domestic and foreign policies have the deepest of pockets.

Just so long as everyone knows who they are.