INSIDE THE STORY

BREXIT will dominate the Labour conference in Liverpool, but a bizarre legal dispute in Edinburgh will be foremost in the minds of Scottish delegates.

In 2017, the Wings Over Scotland blog - run by Stuart Campbell, who is popular among the crankier elements of the pro-independence community - tweeted an objectionable comment which mentioned gay Tory MP David Mundell.

Kezia Dugdale, at that point the leader of Scottish Labour, used her column in the Daily Record to accuse the blogger of “homophobic tweets”. Wings is suing the MSP for £25,000 in damages.

CATCH UP: Labour MSPs urged to help Dugdale with legal costs

UK Labour agreed to meet her legal costs - over £90,000 so far - and instructed lawyers to contest the action. Out of the blue, new party general secretary Jennie Formby is said to have changed her mind and Ms Dugdale has been abandoned. Scottish Labour members are furious.

It is hard to find anyone in the party who does not sympathise with Ms Dugdale, particularly given who is she up against. Fans of Bath-based Wings believe he exposes unionist untruths and calls out the so-called "mainstream media". He tries to take apart negative stories on the SNP and rarely criticises the Nationalist administration in Edinburgh.

The pro-Government blogger is, without doubt, Somerset’s most influential voice on Scottish politics and has raised over £500,000 from his devotees. But he is loathed by opponents who believe he has lowered the tone of politics. For the average Scottish Labour activist, the court case is about more than the rights and wrongs of a tweet.

It is also true that Ms Dugdale, through her own actions, does not have much credit left in the Corbyn favour bank. She has positioned herself as a critic of the UK leader and has not been noticeably supportive of her successor, Richard Leonard. That Ms Formby felt able to cut her loose was telling.

Ms Dugdale is also regarded as self-centred. She may have misgivings about the Corbynista takeover of her party, but the only reason Mr Leonard is leader is because she bailed out after two years. Her former allies share the same view: she left her party, and her staff, in the lurch. The only thing she gave Labour was its worst ever election results.

Her post-leadership decisions have also irked colleagues. When at the helm, Ms Dugdale’s party promised a crackdown on second jobs by MSPs. After her resignation, she jetted off to Australia to appear on a third-rate celebrity TV show, for which she was paid £70,000. It is little wonder that some in the party believe she, not them, should pay her legal fees.

But internal party gripes should play no part in assessing the UK Labour decision, which even Ms Dugdale’s critics believe is as unfathomable as it is unjust.

It is not just the shaky morality of withdrawing legal support half way through a court case that rankles with Labour members. Or the insensitive way it was carried out, which appears to confirm the perception of Scottish Labour as little more than a branch office. Or the certainty that Labour would bankroll Mr Corbyn’s costs if he ever faced a similar problem.

Imagine how this could play out. Ms Dugdale limps along, sustained by a patchwork of crowdfunded donations and hand outs from colleagues, and loses the case. She then has to pay damages and Wings’ legal fees. She could face bankruptcy.

Mr Campbell, who is never slow to wind up his Unionist opponents, would no doubt see it as a victory over Labour, not just Ms Dugdale. He would be emboldened and bullet proof. And all this would have been aided by the UK party.

If you are a Labour supporter, Dugdale on a bad day is surely better than Wings over Scotland on any day. If Leonard wants to assert his authority as leader, perhaps he should call Formby again and remind her of the meaning of solidarity.