THE Scottish Labour Party has contributed so much over the past 20 years; not in terms of substantive politics in government or opposition but in the realm of scandal, drama and soap opera. Richard Leonard’s resignation is the latest episode in this long-running saga which has increasingly been playing to diminishing audiences and reviews. He has been the ninth Labour leader in two decades; the sixth leader in opposition, and the fifth since the 2014 indyref, as the change and churn of leaders speeds up and their impact gets less and less. Scottish Labour once was the dominant political force in the land. It saw Scotland as part of Labour’s heartlands and in so doing took voters for granted and became a party of patronage, preferment and cronyism, and the political establishment. For some in Labour the creation of the Scottish Parliament was a democratising and energising act, but for many in senior positions it was a way to keep, even to extend, the self-preservation society of Labour Scotland.