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A Labour minister has publicly criticised Sir Keir Starmer after he received “no explanation” about why he was sacked from his cabinet role earlier this year – adding his wife was “furious” about the decision.
Culture minister Ian Murray has broken ranks and lashed out at Sir Keir’s decision to replace him as Scottish secretary, a move which many in the Scottish Labour Party remain unhappy about.
Mr Murray was the first to be sacked in September’s reshuffle, caused by the resignation of former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner over her failure to pay £40,000 of stamp duty on her new flat in Brighton.
He was only appointed to a senior role in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport after a backlash when he was replaced by the current Scottish secretary, Douglas Alexander.
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Ian Murray is angry over his sacking in September (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Wire)
But in an interview with Holyrood magazine, Mr Murray has made it clear he is still bitter about the experience.
He said he has been given “no explanation” about why he was sacked, despite “asking on a number of occasions”.
Mr Murray said: “For me, the hardest part was the complete lack of any sort of recognition for doing a half-decent job. That’s the hardest bit.
“The second hardest bit is having no explanation of why I was sacked, and as we sit here today, I still don’t have that, despite me asking on a number of occasions.
“The third bit is that I didn’t think I deserved the public humiliation of it all. I genuinely don’t know why it happened and that feels like an unfair gap.”
Speaking about his wife, he added: “It’s fair to say that Mariam was absolutely f****** furious.”
Mr Murray said his wife felt he was “massively underappreciated” in the cabinet, as he tried to balance family life, working with dozens of Scottish Labour MPs elected last year, being in government and travelling between London and Scotland.
“She was most angry about the fact that the prime minister didn’t have an explanation,” he added.
It comes as another minister in Sir Keir’s cabinet told The Independent last week that sacking Mr Murray from the Scotland Office role “was a mistake”.
The minister warned: “Ian was a team player and never made it about him. Removing him was very bad for morale. Douglas will want to take credit if there is a victory [in the Holyrood election in May] but will likely blame [Scottish leader] Anas [Sarwar] if things go badly.”
However, it is understood that Mr Alexander, who was Scottish secretary in Sir Tony Blair’s government, is seen as a “big beast” by key figures in Downing Street, including chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, with extensive experience as an election campaign strategist.
He told journalists last week that he is “optimistic” about Scottish Labour’s chances, not least with the arrival of former Tory minister and merchant banker Lord Offord as Reform’s likely leader in Scotland.
He believes that Mr Sarwar can win in a “presidential style” contest between SNP first minister John Swinney and Lord Offord.
The Holyrood elections are likely to be a pivotal point for Sir Keir’s potential survival as prime minister.
If the results for Labour are bad in Scotland, Wales and London in May, he will likely be ousted, with speculation that Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is planning a return to take over.
Downing Street briefed that health secretary Wes Streeting was planning a coup and there is also speculation about energy secretary and former leader Ed Miliband wanting to return, as well as a plot around Ms Rayner becoming leader.
Sir Keir has already had to endure one humiliation from a cabinet minister he sacked in the reshuffle after former Commons leader Lucy Powell immediately won the deputy leadership contest, beating his preferred candidate, education secretary Bridget Phillipson.
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Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander replaced Mr Murray (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)
Meanwhile, Mr Murray also told how when offered his current ministerial posts in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, he took five hours to consider whether to accept them.
That came the day after his sacking as Scottish secretary, with Mr Murray recalling: “My big questions about coming back into government were, why was it not offered to me at the time – and it wasn’t – why has the decision now been made and why?
“If I’m not good enough for the Scotland Office, why am I now number two in two major UK departments?”
However, he said he is now enjoying his “meaty policy portfolio”, and the experience has taught him to “shout about” his achievements more – a lesson he believes Labour ought to take ahead of next year’s Holyrood election.
Mr Murray said the party has “already done so much” in government at Westminster and it is “up to us as a party to shout about our achievements, because no one else will do it for us”.
