It’s hard to believe over four months have passed since the seismic shock of May’s Holyrood election.  It seems just yesterday Alex Salmond pulled off the unthinkable and took an absolute majority in the Scottish Parliament, and cast aside the Labour Party in a country traditionally known as their home domain.  Scottish Labour are in a state of turmoil now, scurrying around in search for something secure to cling to in a period of absolutely no certainties -  just like ants scrambling for cover after a rock has been kicked aside.

Whilst it was a humbling night for many incumbent Labour MSPs, their Party’s regional list candidates were grinning inwardly with delight – they were going to Holyrood and the biggest challenges they faced on the night were trying to figure out where they could lay their hands on a tie, and what time Burtons opened at the next day.

Scottish Labour’s electoral defeat demonstrates how their MSP team failed in office and floundered out of it.  Being humiliated in a traditional heartland is a far fall from grace for those who were in government in 2003, kicked into opposition in 2007, and subsequently trounced in 2011.  But the future is not necessarily bleak for Scottish Labour if they make the most of what they’ve got.

Due to the massacre of their constituency MSPs in May, Scottish Labour obtained a wholesale clear-out of political dead wood: Andy Kerr, Frank McAveety, and Tom McCabe were among the Labour time servers thrown out with unforgiving punity at the hands of the SNP.  Gone is the notion of a safe Labour seat in Holyrood, and hypothetical ‘seats for life’ on the back of electoral inertia.  That means competition, and competition means more effort and a higher class of candidate.

Why should their party members accept the assumption every incumbent is superior in every way compared to every other prospective candidate?  Electoral selections should be based on merit and effort, not ‘it’s Muggin’s turn now’ or whoever is the flavour of the month within the Party/Trade Union hierarchy, or whoever on Earth calls the shots over in their camp.

So where do they stand now?  In came a raft of new Regional List MSPs who never really hoped to be elected, who represent practically every demographic: young and old, male and female, graduates of ‘The University of Life’ and higher education establishments alike.  Surely there is an independent thought process, a novel policy or two, within one of the new intake?  They sure weren’t amongst any of their fallen colleagues.  New talent and the ideas they bring to the table would help any political party reverse its electoral decline.

Reversing that decline requires a break with the previous leader’s failure to make headway, and that means it’s time for a new one.  This presents the Scottish Labour Party with a dilemma: do they break with the past and vest all hope in someone untested, inexperienced and ‘green’, or choose someone with an inclination of what has to be done, knows the ropes, yet leaves a trace of the stench of defeat?

With a diverse new intake, Scottish Labour will have the opportunity to cultivate a selection of potential future leaders to go forward from 2015.  After all, it is most unlikely the leader at the 2015 election will become First Minister; the best he or she can hope for is to bring the Nats into minority Government again, unless they achieve a movement even more shocking than May 2011 and there is no indication they can pull this rabbit from a hat.  To do so would be akin to conjuring up a hat out of thin air before pulling said bunny from it.  In that case, one of the newly-elected Labour MSPs this year could be the leadership candidate to be in real contention for 2019, and I’m being serious.  Which old-timer would be a) still alive, b) still compos mentis, c) of a viable age, at the election after next (2019)?

I’ll sign off by noting that some of you may be thinking “I thought this was a Tory-orientated blog?” and yes, I have given Scottish Labour perhaps more credit than they deserve.  My key point is “know thy enemy”, and more importantly, how do we get our own house in order?  The Sanderson report findings were implemented yesterday – all of it is good - particularly an amendment to ensure all elected parliamentarians are scrutinised through the use of annual appraisals.

We still need to ensure once the new structures which the constitution provided the framework for are utilised in the spirit Lord Sanderson intended, and the major overhaul we require now is how we overcome our own internal electoral inertia.  We must to get more of our new talent into Holyrood and Westminster in future.