THE frontrunner candidate for leader of Scottish Labour has conducted an interview entirely in emojis.
Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian and current deputy leader of the party, gave the interview to Buzzfeed, responding to questions entirely in picture symbols.
Emojis, also known as “emoticons” or “smileys”, are small icons used to communicate in text messages or online conversation.
The interview started with a few easy rounds of questions, but quickly escalated to serious political matters.
When asked how she felt after the general election results, Dugdale responded with two broken hearts, a crying face and a rose, the symbol of the Labour party.
When asked “which emoji best describes Jim Murphy” she steered clear of criticising the former leader, responding with four footballs and two chocolate bars, presumably in reference to his love of football and legendary sweet tooth.
When asked what she thought about prime minister David Cameron she responded with a simple picture of a martini glass, whilst Nicola Sturgeon earned “strong” flexing bicep emoji.
Dugdale also seized on the opportunity to express optimism for her candidacy for Labour leader.
When asked “How are you feeling about your upcoming leadership campaign?” she responded with a salvo of positive emojis, including smiley faces, rocketships and sunrises.
She also admitted that the mood in the party was currently “cloudy”, but indicated that she had hopes of a brighter future by adding a fast forward and sun symbol.
In spite of the unconventional format the interviewer did not steer clear of bigger issues,
He ramped up to asking Ms Dugdale: “how do you feel about the distribution of the Barnett Formula, with particular reference to the impact that full fiscal autonomy could have on the delicate balance of funding that Scotland has relied upon since the 1970s?”
Ms Dugdale responded with three monkey emojis, appearing to mean “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” which could refer to Scottish Labour’s claims that proposals for fiscal autonomy are ignorant of the consequences.
She followed up with symbols of two money bags and scissors, followed by the number 7.6 and a bomb symbol.
Her interviewer said that this set of emojis took him half an hour to fully comprehend, but that he interpreted it to mean:“If the SNP’s proposal of Scotland raising and controlling all of its own money became reality, there would be £7.6 billion of spending cuts to Scottish public services.”
Dugdale is the clear favourite in the leadership race, set to beat the only other candidate for the role, MSP Ken Macintosh.
Her interview came just hours ahead of Nicola Sturgeon’s appearance on the Daily Show in America, which has an average viewership of 2.5m.
