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IS doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results the definition of insanity?
It might not have been Albert Einstein who coined the phrase, but whatever its origins, Scottish Labour have taken the maxim and run with it.
This morning, Scottish Labour confirmed that only two candidates had made it onto the shortlist to replace now-Lord Anas Sarwar: Michael Marra and Joe Fagan.
Monica Lennon failed to get on the ballot after proving unable to convince a third MP to back her, despite getting the support of three MSPs and two of the biggest union affiliates.
It certainly does not dispel the claims that Scottish Labour is a boys' club – and that the party machine are engaged in their best effort to make sure there is no introspection after their record Holyrood loss, at least on the public stage.
While Lennon represented the left of the party, Marra and Fagan are so alike when it comes to policy platforms that it doesn’t seem as if members are being given a choice at all.
Marra, long-hailed as Sarwar’s successor, is a known ally of gender critical ideology and has said that workers should come first when it comes to oil and gas.
Fagan, a relatively new face to the Scottish Parliament who was previously a council leader in South Lanarkshire, has recently come out swinging at Sarwar’s approach to Gender Recognition Reform, which the party backed during the Holyrood vote but then later did a screeching U-turn on.
He has also said that he would relentlessly lobby the UK Government to sign off on the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
Fagan’s council background could give him a bit of an advantage ahead of the local authority elections next year, and he seems to be styling himself like Andy Burnham, as a believer in the devolution of power to local areas.
After Sarwar put the knife in Keir Starmer – and was rewarded with a place in the House of Lords and a plush ministerial job by Burnham – the UK Labour leadership will probably be hoping that they can find another nice timid branch office manager to toe the line.
This leadership contest seems to be a fight between factions rather than any form of soul-searching.
What is clear is that whichever option Labour members pick, as MP Brian Leishman said following the announcement, the party has been “denied a genuinely broad debate”.
Commentator Duncan Hothersall, who runs Labour Hame, wrote on the website after nominations closed that " the only names on the ballot are those of two men who thus far seem to embody the lack of moral purpose which has come to define the party".
"Both have embraced the anti-trans rhetoric of the right, both have endorsed the idea that we need new drilling in the North Sea, neither looks remotely likely to fight against UK Labour’s anti-immigrant and benefits-cutting rhetoric," he added.
"The only potential candidate who seemed prepared to stand up and say actually we shouldn’t be demonising trans people, actually we shouldn’t be compromising on climate change, actually we could recapture some of the fire that helped us deliver so much in the early years of devolution, has been kept off the ballot by her fellow parliamentarians, seemingly precisely because she believed those things. It is utterly, utterly damning."
It also means that Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay will remain the only female party leader in Holyrood.
“Labour’s decision to block Monica Lennon from even getting on the ballot sends a deeply disappointing message about who gets a voice in their party,” Mackay said.
“The lack of support from Labour MPs and MSPs makes clear that anyone who opposes new oil and gas drilling, stands up for Scotland’s right to decide our own future, or dares to challenge the party establishment is not welcome in Labour.
“It's no wonder that they have just achieved their worst election result to date at a time when more people than ever before are looking to the Scottish Greens and our progressive vision for a fairer, greener Scotland.”
Scottish Labour look set on doing the same thing as they always do: promising change but delivering more of the same.
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