City Council

Councillor Longstaff defects to Labour

By The Basa ⋅ March 27, 2006 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

What a year for defections in the Council.  At first Steve Cardownie, the still Deputy Provost defected from Labour to SNP and now Liberal Democrat councillor for Dalmeny and Kirkliston, John Longstaff has filled up the numbers in the Labour benches to give them a majority once again.

Although the Cardownie defection was a shock to the Labour administration and definitely blindsided the people of the city with a political interest, it was seen as a defection from what was expected to be the losers in the next council elections.  Today’s apparent move from what was thought to be an ascending party in the Council to Labour is interesting and well worth the watch to see how he fairs at next year’s elections.

A senior Liberal Democrat source told EdinburghSucks.com today that they were “shocked but not surprised at the news because there were concerns about his constituency performance in the west of Edinburgh.”  However, our source went on to praise Councillor Longstaff for his work as their spokesman for Culture & Leisure, “He really knew his stuff.”

Teflon Don was of course strutting around like the cat that got the milk:

“I can confirm John Longstaff has made an application for membership to join the Labour party, which the Labour group has decide to accept.”

Like they would have declined when Labour’s membership is totally in the toilet.  So much so that they have to get millionaires to give them secret loans (Pssst.  Don’t tell the treasurer!) because subscriptions are at an all time low and haven’t reached anywhere near rock bottom yet.  Of course these millionaires are not giving the money for free, they are the ones who are setting the party policy and the shrinking membership just have to go along for the show.

There is no truth in the rumour that he read on EdinburghSucks.com about Labour councillors getting Business Class airfaires and Taxi fares so he thought now was a good time to switch.

More Info: Lib Dem councillor goes to Labour

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