A former Scottish Secretary has hit out at Sir Keir Starmer for sacking him, and claimed he still hasn’t been given an explanation for the decision.
Ian Murray, who was axed from his Cabinet post in September and replaced by Douglas Alexander, said he was given ‘no explanation’ at the time and still hasn’t had one despite asking on a number of occasions.
He also said his removal was a ‘public humiliation’ and that his wife, Mariam, was ‘absolutely f****** furious’ with the decision and the actions of the Prime Minister.
Sir Keir’s decision to ruthlessly axe him sparked a major backlash within sections of Scottish Labour – and he was handed a new role 24 hours later as a junior minister jointly in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Speaking to Holyrood magazine, Mr Murray said: ‘For me, the hardest part was the complete lack of any sort of recognition for doing a half decent job. That’s the hardest bit.
‘The second hardest bit is having no explanation of why I was sacked, and as we sit here today I still don’t have that despite me asking on a number of occasions.
Ian Murray was axed from his Cabinet post in September and replaced by Douglas Alexander
Sir Keir Starmer with Ian Murray MP and Claire Baker MSP during a visit to the InchDairnie Distillery in Glenrothes, Fife.
‘And the third bit is that I didn’t think I deserved the public humiliation of it all. I genuinely don’t know why it happened and that feels like an unfair gap.’
He also said that this caused some hesitation when he was offered the dual minister role – and it took him five hours to accept the new position.
Mr Murray said: ‘My big questions about coming back into government were, why was it not offered to me at the time – and it wasn’t – why has the decision now been made and why? If I’m not good enough for the Scotland Office, why am I now number two in two major UK departments?’
Referring to the response from his wife to his removal from the Scottish Secretary, he said: ‘It’s fair to say that Mariam was absolutely f****** furious.
‘She thought I was massively underappreciated, because she’s seen it from her side about how much I was balancing family life, parliament, being one of the new 37 Scottish MPs, being in government, the travelling up and down, not just in the constituency, but also around Scotland, and all the rest of it. But she was most angry about the fact that the prime minister didn’t have an explanation.’
It is highly unusual for a member of government to make such a public attack on a decision by the Prime Minister.
Mr Murray said he is now enjoying his new ‘meaty policy portfolio’ and that the experience had taught him to ‘shout about’ his successes more – which he said is a lesson Labour ought to take ahead of next year’s Holyrood election.
He said: ‘It is up to us as a party to shout about our achievements because no one else will do it for us.’
