THE UK Labour party’s deputy leader yesterday failed to remember the name of the party’s Scottish branch.
Introducing Richard Leonard during an online Labour Connected event, Angela Rayner said her party would be “relentlessly focused” at working alongside Scottish Labour against “the divisive nationalism”.
Rayner, the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, a town outside Manchester, says that they will look to put themselves “back in the driving seat in Scotland”.
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The deputy leader was speaking at Labour Connected, a four-day online event of “keynotes, training, rallies, policy discussions” - according to the party’s website.
She goes on: “Everyone, everyone, needs us to win in Scotland across the whole of the United Kingdom because that’s the only way we’re going to kick the Tories out of power in Westminster and make our country truly socialist and looking after everybody.
“So, without further ado, I would like to introduce Richard Lennon, our leader in Scotland.”
😂 “Richard Lennon” pic.twitter.com/ZQV5uV1MbY
— 🏴🇪🇺Patrick_Woodside. 🇮🇪🏳️🌈 (@pjwoodside) September 20, 2020
Commenting on Twitter, one user asked: “Wonder what Monica Leonard makes of this?”
Another added: “She has no idea who he is, does she?”
Rayner’s slip is not good news for Leonard, who has struggled with name recognition since he took control of the Scottish party and narrowly survived an attempt to have him removed from his position earlier this month.
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In June this year, UK leader Keir Starmer admitted that “visibility” and “recognition” were issues for his party north of the Border.
Focus-group work for the party reportedly found Leonard to be near “anonymous” in Scotland, which his public profile actually lower than when he first became leader in 2017.
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