Alistair Campbell: Labour took Scots for granted
Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s spin doctor, has been talking to Paxman. He said that if the exit polls are correct it will be “very disappointing”.
“If, if the exit polls are right then you are right it is not what we expected and it is not what the opinion polls were saying”.
He says the polls are “baffling to be quite frank”and that what has happened in Scotland over recent months is pretty extraordinary”.
He adds that the No vote in the Scottish referendum has fueled the passion in Scotland for the SNP and that some of that blame lies with David Cameron.
Talk of English nationalism after the referendum results, he says, put “booster rockets on nationalism” north of the border.
He adds that if 58 Scottish seats really go to the SNP, as the exit poll predicts, it is “pretty historic, seismic stuff”.
The Labour party has to face up to the fact that because we were so strong and embedded there the Labour party “took people for granted”