Murphy rules himself out of Scottish Labour race

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

In an interview with LabourList this afternoon, Jim Murphy – one of the “big beasts” linked with the Scottish Labour leadership – ruled himself out of the running for the top job north of the border. Murphy said “it would have been pretty cheeky” to stand for leader having co-chaired the recent Scottish party review, and that he never intended to stand.

Murphy also revealed that he plans to support MSP Ken Macintosh (whose Holyrood constituency mirrors his own), for the Scottish leadership.

Though there’s still a chance that Murphy may stand for the leadership north of the border, although don’t hold your breath, he says that he’d consider it “maybe in twenty years time”.

The full interview with Jim Murphy, covering the party review and life as shadow defence secretary will be on labourlist later this week.