Kezia Dugdale 'crushed' by Labour's decision to halt legal bills in defamation case

Kezia Dugdale - Image credit: David Anderson/Holyrood

Kezia Dugdale has said she was left "pretty crushed" and had one of the "lowest personal moments" of her life after party bosses went back on a deal she says they made to cover her costs in a defamation case.

Nationalist blogger Stuart Campbell, who runs the 'Wings Over Scotland' website, is suing Dugdale for a £25,000 after she accused him of posting "homophobic tweets" in her column in the Daily Record.

Campbell has strenuously denied the allegation.

Speaking to the Daily Record political podcast, Dugdale said: "There was no question mark over it, they [the Labour Party] were going to support this case.

"Fast forward 18 months – and it’s pretty shocking it’s taken that long to get to the preliminary hearing, we’re not even at the full proof yet – and I had to find out by email from my solicitor that the Labour Party weren’t prepared to pay any more legal bills.

"Safe to say the one factor that’s changed in that time is the general secretary, it’s a woman called Jennie Formby.

"When I found that out by email, I was pretty crushed to be honest."

She added: "It’s enough to make me really worry about my personal financial security.

"I had a moment of crisis around how I’m going to pay, and secondly, how could my party do this to me?"

Dugdale has said that former Labour general secretary Iain McNicol agreed that the party would pay for her legal case, and even chose the lawyers who would represent her.

Daily Record political editor David Clegg also confirmed Labour had insisted on managing the case.

He said: “I remember when this action was first lodged, when we were first made aware of it, and obviously as the publisher we were preparing to take on the legal challenge.

“At that point you [Kezia Dugdale] were the leader of the Scottish Labour Party and the party was very insistent that… there was too much at risk for them, that they had to be in charge of the process and it had to be their own legal team.”

But his successor in the post, Jennie Formby, has informed Dugdale, through her lawyer, that the party is scrapping the arrangement, having already paid out £94,000.

In a statement last night, a Labour spokesperson said: "Kezia Dugdale has received significant support from the Labour party.

"The party has a responsibility to all our members and that must mean spending our members’ fees responsibly and appropriately.

"We have to present and campaign around our message of hope and the need to rebuild Britain and that is where we believe our members wish to see their fees spent."

Labour sources insisted they had found no evidence that the party had ever agreed to cover all her legal costs.

Dugdale said she had texted Jeremy Corbyn personally about the situation, but he had failed to respond.

Scottish Labour MSPs have expressed their backing for Dugdale.

In a statement on behalf of the group, Scottish Labour Parliamentary Group chair Mary Fee said: "On Tuesday 25 September, Kezia Dugdale MSP updated the Scottish Labour parliamentary group about the status of the legal action against her. 

"The Labour group expressed full support and solidarity for Kezia in the case."