ALEX Salmond has launched a barrage of criticism at Jim Murphy for his failings as leader of Scottish Labour.
Salmond commented on the vanquished Labour leader’s resignation announcement, saying he had “made things much worse for Labour.”
He chided Murphy for losing all but one of Labour’s 41 MPs in his “brief time” as leader, scathingly adding: “To lose one MP may be a misfortune but to lose 40?”
Salmond, who was elected as MP for Gordon on 7 May, was quick to blame Labour’s catastrophic election losses on the “No” Campaign during last year’s referendum.
He said: “certainly campaigning shoulder to shoulder, hand in glove with the Tories last year is the biggest single problem for Scottish Labour.
“People don’t forget that sort of thing.”
Speaking as an ex-party leader, a title Murphy will soon share with him, Salmond also speculated that Murphy would not attract the generous responses that other fallen figures in politics often enjoy.
In his scornful missive he said that Murphy’s decision to produce a report on the party would be regarded by many of his “internal opponents” as “an attempt to fix the election of his successor.”
Having taken a back seat since stepping down as SNP leader following the referendum, Salmond was keen to voice his judgement on the failed leader.
He said: “Under Murphy’s direction it was neither Scottish nor Labour and they certainly were not having a party.”
