Purcell leaves top rehab clinic
March 3, 2010 by Hamish Macdonell · 100 Comments
Glasgow City Council's chamber
Mr Purcell resigned as leader of Scotland’s biggest council yesterday, citing stress and exhaustion for his decision.
He was already in the Castle Craig Hospital in the Borders, which specialises in treating people with drug and alcohol problems, when he phoned his resignation through to his colleagues.
A spokesman for Mr Purcell said the Labour councillor had now returned to Glasgow to recuperate with his family.
Mr Purcell has been replaced as leader of the council by his former deputy, Councillor Jim Coleman.
A statement released this morning by Jack Irvine, one of Scotland’s leading public relations consultants, said: “Councillor Steven Purcell is no longer a patient in Castle Craig Hospital. Councillor Purcell is recuperating with family and he asks the media to allow him time and space to recover to full health.”
Castle Craig Hospital describes itself as “one of Europe’s top rehab clinics providing inpatient treatment for those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction”.
It is understood that Mr Purcell was in good health and in good spirits until the end of last week.
But on Friday he cancelled an appearance at an event and then on Saturday it is understood that he advised close colleagues of his intention to resign.
It is also understood that Mr Purcell went to Castle Craig Hospital, which describes itself as “one of Europe’s top rehab clinics” over the weekend and returned to Glasgow today.
The 37-year-old former council leader was seen by many in the Labour Party as a bright star of the future.
He had run Glasgow City Council for five years and was instrumental in securing the Commonwealth Games of 2014 for the city.
Mr Purcell also managed to develop a high-profile political role outside Glasgow and was being touted for a safe Labour seat, either for Westminster or for Holyrood, in the near future.
His decision to step down and seek help for his health problems does not mean the end of his political career.
Mr Purcell may well come back, and return to prominence in Scottish politics, when he has got over the stress and exhaustion he is suffering from at the moment.
But it is likely to be a year, or more, before he or the party can make that decision.
Related posts:
one of Europe’s top rehab clinics, is that not a strange place to go for a stress related illness????
Report This Comment
afternoon, loveme2times,Eh no it is not! it depends what or who is stressing the guy and going to this clinic would give him the much needed space and time to start the journey back to full health without people harassing him etc.
Hope he didn’t leave the clinic early because someone found out where he was.
“to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment” (R A Emerson)
Sid
Report This Comment
I do hope Mr Purcell is back in good health so that he can face the SPT allegations
Report This Comment
They might not be the only questions that he has to answer?
Report This Comment
No doubt when he has recovered he can go back to being a councillor, but his resignation and the manner of it has effectively destroyed any thought of a political career.
He could, however, always move to a post with even less responsibility for the welfare of Glasgow and Scotland. He could become a Labour MP at Westminster.
Report This Comment
“Mr Purcell may well come back” – might he? I suppose there are more schools and community centres to close. And after all, he’ll want to see what the final bill for the Commonwealth Games will be.
Report This Comment
I wonder why quite unobjectionable comments are still being heavily censored on this issue.
Report This Comment
they’re probably being edited rather than censored. the cal merc is to be applauded for encouraging debate. sadly, a lot of people confuse debate with their “right” to say what they want, regardless of veracity or taste.
you’ll find that journalists such as hamish and stewart, being close to these events, will actually know more about what is happening than some ranting tinfoil hatted twit who wants to smear and defame.
your right to freedom of speech is not your right to ay anything you like. and you’re placing way too much importance on the words of those you feel are being “censored”. i think you’ll find those views are being dismissed by an editor trying to maintain a decent standard of debate.
dear nationalists, please try to learn from mr salmond and ms sturgeon that there are times for attack and times for compassion.
Report This Comment
I agree with the sentiments as regards a time for compassion.If only the unionist parties and in particular new Labour would learn from Alex Salmond as they have attempted to smear him for the past few months.And their behaviour with Nicola Sturgeon was also disgraceful.
Mr Purcell is no doubt closer to some of the shenanigans that have went on with his new Labour council colleagues and its little wonder he is stressed.
Report This Comment
So its nationalists is it?
My! How lucky we are to have a clairvoyant in our midst!
Are you so desperate to spin and smear?
From what I have read of comments on the subject of Mr Purcell , there seems to be a fair amount of curiosity as to why it is being handled in a heavy handed ,import a spin doctor manner, but no particular nastiness directed at the man himself.
Damn ! Why have’nt I followed my own advice?
Looks like do as I say and not as I do!
Report This Comment
As someone fairly neutral I must say I am shocked at some of the racist vitriol spouted by some of the nationalists across the comments on this website. I am embarrassed to be Scottish when I read some of this.
Its also sad when people can’t see past party politics no matter what the situation
Report This Comment
Hear, hear!
Report This Comment
“shocked at some of the racist vitriol spouted by some of the nationalists across the comments on this website” stressed out are we? I can suggest a good clinic that can fix that in a day or two – comes highly recommended
Report This Comment
Do you have any evidence of *nationalists* spouting racist vitriol??
You can quote directly you know?
Report This Comment
“. . racist vitriol spouted by some of the nationalists across the comments on this website.”
I find this a surprising comment as I have been pleased to find so little vitriol in the comments I have read on this site. But then, I am a regular reader of the on-line Scotsman!
Report This Comment
The only vitriol has come from the Labour Party as usuual! A Party who have ditched thier own man as fast as they would flee from a leper! With Murphy, Grey and no doubt Brown hoping that he will stay out of Scotland till after the election is out of the way!
Report This Comment
Perhaps the free Scottish press could report the simple facts regarding the level of “direction” they have taken from Purcell’s lawyers in respect of their reporting of the issue.
Report This Comment
weasel words, from a ratzo.
if you have a specific allegation to make, make it.
Report This Comment
The moderation on my recent comments confirms that sadly even matters already well known and confirmed in the public domain are being censored, which is disappointing. Shows us what a PR firm can do.
Report This Comment
Or the level of support the Labour faction has in in MSM.
I very much doubt we would be having quite as moderated a discussion if Salmond had quit and checked into a Drug & Alcohol Rehab centre.
Report This Comment
@John: That’s certainly not the case with this paper.
Report This Comment
Stewart
That may certainly not be the case for this paper but it certainly is the case for the rest of the MSM.
Substitute Salmond for Purcell and every newspaper and TV channel would have it on the front page and first item for weeks. There would have been a media scrum outside the clinic where Purcell was “receiving treatment from professionals” don’t you just love these spin doctors.
I believe we are now past the tipping point with the anti Salmond and SNP stories. Lunchgate and donorgate have had no great effect on the support for the SNP. The problem for Labour with no policies, and few decent politicians, is where do they go from here.
The smears and the spin are not working and they have nothing else left.
Report This Comment
Is it just the case that I am the only one to have my comments on Hamish MacDonnnell “awaiting” permanent moderation?
Yesterday’s Daily Record removed all online comments on Purcell’s position. One reader claimed that he had a fondness for the Colombian powder and money.
I wouldn’t profess to know, but is does seem a likely explanation for the way Labour has handled the situation. After attending a Broon reception he is suddenly visited by a Labour delegation telling him to seek treatment. He then ignores the Labour Cooncil’s well paid spin doctor in favour of a private one to tell his colleagues to keep stum, while he checks in to a drug and alcohol rehab unit. No wonder the whole situation rebounds in rumour.
Purcell, incidentally is a giant among pygmies in his own party and I wish him a speedy recovery.
Report This Comment
ME TOO and now it vanished into the Cal Merc rubbish bin
Report This Comment
Very true but I dont think it is a particularly anti SNP thing if it had been the Tories who were in the Labour Party face in Scotland then the media poison would be directed at them. Debatable point perhaps but it is the SNP who are the big threat now to thier (Labours) gilt edged life long expense and salary scam!
Report This Comment
I think Steven Purcell will play a big part in a future independent Scotland. He has the type of talent that Scotland needs. Yes, he’s Labour, but many Labour supporters favour Independence. Personally, I know a lot of pro – Independence Labour folk.
Report This Comment
Yeah … he does seem to be one of the more talented of the Labour pool AH … we need all the men and women of talent in our wee country.
Report This Comment
I feel for the man, he is in more danger from the party he is in than from the opposition as per the previous Labour Group Leader.
Report This Comment
The man resigned for health issues and I wish him a speedy and full recovery. However the manner of the resignation, the appointment of a PR firm, the involvements of solicitors reportedly to ensure that officials did not discuss Mr Purcells health, do appear to have had exactly the opposite effect that you would think someone would wish. If it was designed to give Mr Purcell peace and quiet to recuperate, then it does seem to have been ill judged, as it seems to have had exactly the opposite effect.
I had hoped that Mr Purcell being given in patient support would speed his recovery, and it is to be hoped that this was not cut short by media intrusion.
Report This Comment
I will just cut and paste my comment from Brian’s Blog.
As always a very good arcitle on the subject by Keneth Roy in the Scottish Review entitled
“Let us have no more talk of stress”
he ends with this classic line
“But it would be good to hear no more of stress or exhaustion from public figures. If they don’t like it, they could always get a proper job.
”
http://www.scottishreview.net/KRoy215.html
Alexander, will you now go and email Kenneth Roy detailing your annoyance with his comments or is it on when they come from Nats??
Report This Comment
Really, that’s pathetic. Do you really think I’m going to employ a scattergun approach to commenting on anything and everything because you point me in the direction of it?
Now, tell me, what is so wrong about asking people to offer some evidence for what they say and some analysis of this situation?
Smears and sniping when the guy’s in tatters? Nah, you can keep that. It’s beneath me. Like yourself.
Report This Comment
Like the Scottish Media reporting a Labour Story I have no comment to make on Alexander’s postings.
I am just reading my Dictionary…..
hypocrite [ˈhɪpəkrɪt]
n
a person who pretends to be what he is not
[from Old French ipocrite, via Late Latin, from Greek hupokritēs one who plays a part, from hupokrinein to feign, from krinein to judge]
hypocritical adj
hypocritically adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 6th Edition 2003. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
Or some alternatives….
Noun 1. hypocrite – a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives
dissembler, dissimulator, phoney, phony, pretender
beguiler, cheater, deceiver, trickster, slicker, cheat – someone who leads you to believe something that is not true
charmer, smoothie, smoothy, sweet talker – someone with an assured and ingratiating manner
Tartufe, Tartuffe – a hypocrite who pretends to religious piety (after the protagonist in a play by Moliere)
whited sepulcher, whited sepulchre – a person who is inwardly evil but outwardly professes to be virtuous
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Report This Comment
What have alcohol and drugs rehabilatation got to do with stress and exhaustion, and why so short a stay? Has a miracle happened?
Report This Comment
The man obviously has serious personal problems that it is inappropriate to comment upon, but he did do this in such a way, hiring a spin doctor and a legal team and trying to squash comment, as to bring about the most possible questions. Possibly that was a function of his judgment being impaired; it would seem likely.
Report This Comment
PS. I’ll tell you what baffles me. This man is or was supposedly one of the “rising stars” of Labour. So where are the Labour leaders expressing their support and sympathy for this man? You might note that the ONLY party leader who has expressed sympathy, that this is a private affair and that Mr. Purcell achieved something in the past was Mr. Alex Salmond.
Why the resounding and echoing silence from supposed friends and allies within the Labour Party saying what a good job he has done and that they are “behind him 110%”???
Am I missing something here? There is an American saying about being left to twist slowly in the wind. That is the impression (accurate or otherwise) that is being given by the leadership of his party.
Report This Comment
No Alexander I was just asking for consistency from you and I wasn’t pointing you in the direction of the Scottish Review I post links to Kenneths arctiles all the time and as such it was for everyone to read.
Calm down don’t get stressed out.
Answer me this one, do you think that if this story was about a high profile SNP member that it would be reported in the exact same way???? or would they be smearing and sniping as was the case with the paths at Balmoral (Republican Rose wasn’t it), SNP fundraising (nothing proved and everyone cleared) need I go on?????
Report This Comment
I think this story will get legs towards the weekend.
Any comment from Viceroy Murphy yet?
Report This Comment
I agree that a drugs and alcohol clinic is a strange place for someone supposedly suffering from stress to go. The rumours are rife in and around Glasgow and have been for some time but its only rumours.
Stress is the get out for many a thing. In one paper today a woman was found guilty of defrauding her clients and cited stress as the reason. Some time ago a police officer was caught using counterfeit money he also cited stress as the reason. Just two examples from many.
I know people in very stressful jobs, dealing with people dying everyday in life and even though they have major illnesses themselves stress does not even enter into it.
I have to say I agree with the comments about the reporting of this matter and Alexander is way off the mark. We even had sensational headlines about a man selling his number plates 1 SNP etc. Yes if this had been a senior SNP person then we would have weeks of so called newspapers running all sorts of allegations.
I do appreciate the fact that a PR company has been issuing threats and has now lodged a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission which only adds to the intrigue.
Report This Comment
but, really, when it comes to the reasons for the way this has been reported, thus far, you have no idea.
Report This Comment
Will Mr Purcell or Glasgow City Council or the Labour Party be paying the bill for the PR company and the lawyers?
Report This Comment
That would be an ecumenical matter Mr Brown
Slainte Mhor
Report This Comment
This is getting curiouser and curiouser almost like Alice in Wonderland or a Harry Potter story
First we have a party with our Prime Mentalist who is known for this kiss of death thing – everything he touches falls apart.
But Steven Purcell had a whale of a time.
Then we are told he is resigning the next day and immediately because of stress and makes phone call at 9PM resigning
BUT he does not use the Glasgow Council Legal or PR team or go quietly with minimum fuss Instead he ignores their advice and hires his very own Doctor not an MD but a spin doctor along with a lawyer who specialises in deformation cases who contacts Glasgow Council people to to impose a news blackout.
Then we hear he is out of a clinic specialising in Drugs and Alcohol rehabilitation problems having only spent a few days there.
Now we are told he is going to spend time with his family when we have previously been told he is a workaholic and hates going home.
I know he is a devout catholic but that was surely another miracle if he is now cured after a few days.
The silence from the Labour party in Scotland is deafening with regard to this high flying Labour pollytician.
Which generates the question what do they know that we dont – where is the grey man or Murphy.
Even Lewis Carol or JK Rowling could not sell a story like this.
Report This Comment
It did not sound as if he was stressed at the Labour Party fundraising shindig! Is there a new stress disorder of which I am unaware!
Perhaps there is a new genre for JK Rowling here? Will her next novel be a First Class A profit maker for Bloomsbury and the Labour Party coffers? A political pot boiler that is perhaps based more in reality than fantasy?
Report This Comment
J.R. Tomlin has made a very good point, why has the only politicion to comment on this been Mr Salmond? As for the allegation that “cybernats” are being tasteless and speculative then why haven’t the full details of this been reported? This man is in the public eye, there is certainly something stinking here and the inability or unwillingness of the media to report this is is heightening the suspicion of anyone with a brain, not just the “paranoid, conspiracy obsessed, cybernats”.
Report This Comment
I think you will find his lawyers have already reported a few papers to the Press complaints authority
The Mind Boggles as to what they could be finding to complain about.
Report This Comment
That certainly seems to be the case! Spin doctor, solicitors, online gagging on stories, going home to rehabilitate, drug/alcohol clinic for a couple of days!
If he is ill, I hope he recovers soon, just can’h help but wonder if all this is just simple stress! Getting all this in place itself must be very stressful! That alone leads to more questions!
As others have said – where are the Labour leaders comments? Not being very supportive! I wonder why?
Report This Comment
I thought Salmond was quite generous in his comments in relation to Purcell! As for cybernats being tasteless well as a Unionist myself I find some of my fellow travellers quite tatseless as well!
The way this has been handled will only result in speculation that will not go away and will hang over everything in the coming weeks. Far better by far to get things out in the open as the Scottish Press and Media is so in thrall to the Labour Party anyway that Purcell would get an easy time of it!
Now the Labour Party and the press and media in Scotland has even less credibility than it had before!
Report This Comment
Purcell pledges: I’ll be back.
Source ,
Evening Times.
It,s a Miracle right enough.
Report This Comment
You only get defamation lawyers involved if you have something to hide.
Report This Comment
Rubbish!
Report This Comment
Dear John, i dont think the facts as we know them now support your highly detailed reply
Report This Comment
You also get defamation lawyers involved if you have been defamed.
Redcliffe’s ‘no smoke without fire’ position flies in the face of every concept of justice.
IF Steven Pucell has done something wrong, it will no doubt ultimately be revealed, meanwhile, judging by some of the hysterical speculation on this website, he is quite right to employ any means possible to prevent rumour and innuendo spreading.
Also, what are these facts that you now know?
Report This Comment
I should briefly note, because I forgot, ’cause I’m daft, that the article I was mentioning was in the Daily Record, not this wonderful e-paper…
Report This Comment
A thought on a Cheltenham Cup trifecta.
Perhaps Purcell is looking at “Imperial Commander, Tricky Trickster” and “What A Friend”…..” I know I am.
Calgary Bay has water connotations but just did not seem THAT relevant, and probably will get scratched late. So stick to the first three is my advice.
Report This Comment
It perhaps shows the stress that Mr Purcell was under that he hires outside consultants/lawyers…… and the books into Castle Craig, it doent surprise me that he only spent 2 days, there it costs £600 a day. Anyway good to see a socialist choosing private healthcare, the NHS does provide this kind of care. However trying to get a doctor to come out and diagnose you is difficult enough and if you ring NHS 24 the line is always engaged.
Report This Comment
£600 per day at the clinic. Wow!
So why doesn’t the guy use the NHS treatment facilities? That is what we lesser mortals would have to do. The politicians are always singing the praises of the NHS, particularly the Labour Party who take the credit for establishing it.
With all the support needed from lawyers, PR consultants and private health institutions, it must be costing a pretty penny.
Report This Comment
Story over on the Scotsman suggesting that Glasgow City Council was preparing to make statement about Purcells drug problem. http://tinyurl.com/yk3lony
Now if true this might offer an explanation for some of the behaviour to do with PR, Lawyers and gagging threats to GCC officials. However still wish him a full and speed recovery.
Report This Comment
Yes, I tried to post that here yesterday but it was censored.
On the BBC website report today there is further contradiction and confusion. It says that although he was treated in a rehab clinic specialising in substance abuse, the suggestion that any substance abuse was involved is, according to Purcell’s PR minders ‘baseless’.
So they are saying then that all the talk of ‘chemical dependency’ (c.f. Glasgow City Council’s recommended view) is 100% incorrect? Where did the GCC get such a firm idea of it that they recommended that it be published to the world as an official statement then?
Report This Comment
It certainly felt over the last few days that there was more to this story. The very careful position taken on postings on the BBC Blether with Brian tended to indicate to me that something unusual was happening, on that site it takes about 20/30 minutes for post to be moderated, it was taking 3 to 4 hours for some to appear, there was also a marked increase in the number of posts not published, this is a fairly rare occurrence on Brian Taylors blog, but at one time it seemed as if every other post was not being published.
At least now it begins to make some sense, Purcell or/and his advisors were not happy with position being advised by GCC, therefore appointment of own PR, and I suspect worrying that officials might leak there draft they were gagged. One is left wondering if Purcells team really believed that they could keep this story under wraps indefinitely.
It may also explain why not one senior Labour politician has made any comment about this story, it feels as if they either knew or were advised of the real problem, and not one of them seemed to prepared to wish Mr Purcell a speedy and full recovery.
I still wish Mr Purcell a full and speedy recovery but am concerned that his behaviour may actually have drawn more attention than if he had just put his hands up in the first place.
Report This Comment
I think he was between a rock and a hard place – surely once the council his employer had taken a position there was no way of avoiding the truth coming out. I am sorry that he has what looks like ‘drug dependency problems’ and wish him a speedy and complete recovery – pre this PR disaster i did think of him as a sharp operator but by doing what he did and the way that he did it i think he has put his decision making process ‘in this matter’ under a very bright revealing spotlight and they dont look to be very clever – could this be the end of a career in politics? I can imagine the grey man and murphy breathing a sigh of relief. Hey ‘maybe’ the one polytician who offered him public support could encourage him to join him in making Scotland a much better place to live in NOW that WOULD BE a RESULT!!!!
Report This Comment
WOW the Hootsman gets balls – sue me in you dare AWESOME and so unlike them
Report This Comment
Indeed, I wonder if the new non-biased competition like the CalMerc is starting to have an influence ? This is definitely very uncharacteristic, but extremely good, reporting from the Scotsman. Perhaps this could be a small glimmer on the way to a level playing field in the Scottish media that many of have waited so long for.
Report This Comment
Not sure about that yet. About 80% of my (perfectly innocuous) posts have been barred from his site so far. It is by a country mile the most censorious of all the news forums.
Report This Comment
Yep could be very premature and disappointing the hear about the huge proportion by which your posts have been censored. It would be good if Stewart could clarify with you why they were moderated and/or clarify to other posters what the rules are here so that we be aware of the posting restrictions.
Personally, I’ve not been moderated too much and certainly compared with the Scotsman have been given a relatively free reign. On the few occasions I have been moderated so far I was deliberately pushing the boundaries to get a better understanding of what the rules are e.g. for the Purcell thread most posts went through fine, but a couple were moderated as I guess they went too far, and I am sure Stewart could clarify why, but my guess is there was too much of a liability issue for the CalMerc especially with the litigious Labour Comrades breathing down their necks.
Report This Comment
Well a lot of my recent longer comments are now moderated – 99% of them get published though – the ones that dont get published are a puzzle and it would be nice to be informed why they were contentious BUT hey its their ball!!! I think things are good here and i hope that the CM does not let any of the Hootsmans nasty evil trolls spoil things – i can already see two culprits that post with the intention to spoil the comments and debate – hopefully we can ignore them and not rise to the bait and they will go away and play elsewhere. The Problem i see is IF there is not some good moderation and as i suspect this becomes ‘the place for debate on Scottish politics’ then the trolls will be instructed to come here and play nasty.
Report This Comment
It might be your name “Ratzo” and if this gets moderated that will prove it.
Report This Comment
It’s not your name.
Report This Comment
OOOOOPS my perfectly accurate post and quite reasonable comment got binned without any explanation. The censors delete key works OWELL
Report This Comment
I wonder why the ‘non-biased’ CalMerc has not made any mention of the Alex Salmond ‘cash for programmes’ story?
Report This Comment
Do you know how much cash has the SNP Government given STV since coming to power ?
Do you know how much the previous Lib/Lab administration gave them ?
If so, compare and contrast.
Report This Comment
If you see bias I suggest your raise it with the editor.
Perhaps it is not seen as newsworthy and is just another Labour accusation which will come to nothing. There have been plenty of these petty attacks in the past and this sounds like just one more of the same.
Report This Comment
Stewart (the Editor) has been more than gracious in responding to such queries. You may want to raise the issue with him.
I’m not sure there actually IS a *cash for programmes* story though, since the previous Lab/LibDem coalition actually spent more than the SNP on Television programming.
Report This Comment
it strikes me as funny when people suffering from stress
book themselves into the top drug clinic in the country,
but then i dont know many people who could afford too.
Report This Comment
The drip,drip,deip has started, shades of the old addage “oh what a tangled web we weave”
Report This Comment
This is getting more and more weird. Despite reports of Steve Purcell’s release from a drug rehab centre, it would appear that this might not be as simple as that :
“Former Glasgow city council leader Steven Purcell went missing from a private clinic which specialises in drug and alcohol dependency, STV News can exclusively reveal.”
“Lothian and Borders police officers were called in to search for the leader of Glasgow City Council after he disappeared on Sunday from the Castle Craig clinic in Peebleshire.
Police confirmed in a statement today: “A 37-year-old man was reported missing in the Borders area on Sunday, February 28, 2010. While a search was being organised, the man returned.”"
see – tinyurl.com/ye7owuh
Report This Comment
The Sunday papers will have a field day with this one.
Report This Comment
No they won’t. He’s Glesga Labour!
Report This Comment
Being Glesga Labour has not helped him so far. For newspapers whose circulation figures are dropping by the day, any story is fair game now.
Report This Comment
Were Glasgow a Ltd Company where woiuld the share price be today?
Given Purcells function and all the relative businesses of being Glasgows CEO- then he forfeits a lot of what we call privacy;he has responsibility for other peoples lives,so ofetn flayed out in public.
You live by it-you die by it!
Read Montaigne.
Report This Comment
The man is not an ordinary joe bloggs but the leader of the biggest local authotity in Scotland, he could have resigned on medical advice like most other people would have done, and that would have been an end to it, but he chose, for reasons best known to himself, to put up a legal smokescreen so should not be surprised that the press are interested. He is the architect of his own concerns.
Report This Comment
It’s all rather puzzling.
Any politician is purportedly putting himself or herself forward on the dual bases of firstly, the policies of his or her party and secondly, his or her own personality, beliefs and practices.
Let’s put the policies of Purcell’s party to one side. I think it’s become clear that there are quite a number of things about Mr Purcell which are now clear to the wider world but which were not so widely known a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps the wider public may find him not such an attractive proposition as a political leader.
It’s equally clear that a mammoth effort is being made to prevent some unspecified matters being made known to the wider public.
It is abundantly evident that there are real problems and an attempt to prevent the measure of transparency necessary in terms of responsible government.
A politician’s health is his own business insofar as he is a private individual. When, however, it impinges on his ability to carry out the functions of his public office, it is no longer a private matter. Nor can alleged unspecified health problems be legitimately used as an excuse for dramatically-sudden departure from office. The public, and especially the electors of Glasgow, are due a much better account of these events than they have hitherto received. Until they receive a frank, accurate and truthful account, free of spin, with regard to what has transpired with regard to Mr Purcell, they will remain deeply suspicious of both Mr Purcell and all those connected with his sudden departure from office.
Report This Comment
Purcell has just resigned as a councillor.
http://the-universality-of-cheese.blogspot.com/2010/03/steven-purcell-resigns-as-councillor.html
Report This Comment
OH my and they give a reason for his sudden departure
Report This Comment
Breaking news on radio Scotland at 4.00pm is that Purcell has resigned as a councillor! The plot thickens!
Report This Comment
Mr Purcell should be judged primarily as a “moderniser”. I heard this being discussed on Radio Scotland today as a “tragedy”. I gasped, has news management at the BBC gone this far.
If there is a connection with SPT other than stress, I would like to know what it is.
Report This Comment
Awfully quiet all of a sudden isn’t it?
Report This Comment
We are all individuals.
Drug dependency
High pressured job
Leave it alone.
The majority of us are high on something.
brusque says:I can’t speak for everyone else, but I don’t run one of the largest Local authorities in Scotland.
Exactly
By the way I am a true nationalist
Report This Comment
From this mornings papers it seems his problems were common knowledge amongst Labour colleagues.How far up the chain of command did this knowledge go and what action did his bosses take to deal with his problems.
If they did indeed know for as long as is being claimed then there are real questions to be asked not about Mr Purcell’s addiction but why he was allowed to remain in such a senior position for so long without being offered support and treatment and if he was offered this and refused did they then just walk away ????
If senior Labour party leaders were aware of this did they go to his employer at the time they knew or did they keep quiet.
Report This Comment
This story has gone very quiet all of a sudden.
Report This Comment
I see I am getting repetitive. My apologies. I wonder why my comment ended up here, two days ago. This is unusual is it not?
Report This Comment
So far, the only political leader who has expressed any sense of “concern” is Alex Salmond.
And today’s papers confirm that nobody in Labour is prepared to back him, in fact they are all scurrying about trying to distance themselves from him, or any decisions he has made.
Quite sad.
Report This Comment
This whole affair with Purcell is a bit bizarre!!
I thought there might have been a bit today in the CalMerc!
I wonder if things are just simmering away before another story on Purcell breaks!
Report This Comment
Martin
I completely agree with you, if the man is genuinely unwell then I wish him nothing but the best. But this is becoming bizarre. If he had been suffering from stress and exhaustion then why was he not granted sick leave, or leave of absence? why did he actually resign as ill health, unless prolonged is not usually a reason for resignation. How much did the Labour group actually know about Mr Purcells condition, the ringing silence is significant, no one asking that he be left alone, no one from his party apparently fighting his corner.
Report This Comment
I saw an interview with the Gray man on Tuesday night. He looked shifty and said the absolute minimum her could about Purcell and certainly failed to give a warm endorsment. He obviously knows something we don’t.
Viceroy Mirphy remains silent.
Report This Comment
At last Labour pollyticians have said ’something’ Last night senior Labour figures urged former Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell to issue a full statement laying out why he quit his post, warning he will not be able to move on until the full facts behind his departure are made clear. Former Glasgow lord provost Michael Kelly said: “he will have to allow the full story to be told” “The questions and inquiries will go on until he does. That’s the simple fact of political life.” Another senior Labour source in Glasgow said: “He needs to get a grip of this and demonstrate that he has put himself on an even keel.”
Report This Comment
Steven Purcell is sick and has resigned.
His psychiatrist has confirmed he is receiving treatment.
What he is receiving treatment for is none of anybody’s business.
Why are so many sick ghouls on this site so determined to pursue this man?
I, for one, do not blame him for seeking to protect himself from the type of poorly-informed speculation and rumour which has infested this website.
Is anyone here prepared to state that he or she will tell the world the exact nature of all and any illnesses that he or she or his or her family has suffered, is suffering or will suffer?
Are you also prepared for that suffering to be picked over, commented on and used for whatever purposes the rest of us see fit?
If not, shut up and leave him alone.
Report This Comment
Well at last Labour pollyticians have said ’something’ Last night senior Labour figures urged former Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell to issue a full statement laying out why he quit his post, warning he will not be able to move on until the full facts behind his departure are made clear. Former Glasgow lord provost Michael Kelly said: “he will have to allow the full story to be told” “The questions and inquiries will go on until he does. That’s the simple fact of political life.” Another senior Labour source in Glasgow said: “He needs to get a grip of this and demonstrate that he has put himself on an even keel.” So it would appear they too dont support your view here.
Meanwhile, other party sources said that, even if Mr Purcell sought to clear the air over his departure, there was “no way back” – NOW that is a very supportive and helpful comment from a fellow Labour Party comrade dontyathink?
Report This Comment
How many other paid employrees are off sick from glasgow council. Do they not have to report in to still receive payments?
I think the sick guy in Lybya still has someone in Renfrew on his case.
Report This Comment
I can’t speak for everyone else, but I don’t run one of the largest Local authorities in Scotland.
Mr Purcell has brought the “speculation” on himself, he hired people to deal with PR and represent him, so I think it would be fair to say that he anticipated the interest, he would not be a very clever man if he didn’t!
Report This Comment