Labour give former Better Together chief new ‘mission champion for Scotland’ job

LABOUR have appointed former Better Together chief Blair McDougall as one of their “mission champions” for Scotland.

The East Renfrewshire MP’s new appointment comes just in time for the 10th anniversary of the independence referendum, where his collaboration with the Tories sent Labour to the political fringes for the best part of a decade.

He’ll be joined in the new post by East Kilbride MP Joani Reid (below).

(Image: Gordon Terris/Newsquest)

The Times reports that Labour chair Ellie Reeves, the sister of the Chancellor, emailed MPs on Thursday evening announcing the 27 new jobs.

She said: “They will work across departments, working with ministers […] to help deliver our long-term plan for national renewal.”

They were said to have been convened by Rachel Reeves and Vidhya Alakeson, the prime minister’s political director, earlier this week.

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One attendee told the paper the focus was already on the next General Election, due in 2029.

Labour will presumably be focused on winning that election, an area in which McDougall holds no special qualifications.

(Image: Newsquest)

He helped run the Scottish Labour leadership campaign of Jim Murphy (above), which in the short term was successful but longer-term ruinous for the party, which was reduced to just one MP north of the Border almost immediately after.

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Never one to give up, McDougall then ran for his former boss’s East Renfrewshire seat in 2017, a bid which moved the party from second place to third.

He then helped Jess Phillips in her unsuccessful Labour leadership bid in 2020.