Susan Dalgety
Susan Dalgety is the communications director to the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Jim Murphy.
Career
Dalgety began her career in 1987 as the editor of the Wester Hailes Sentinel, in 1997 she was appointed deputy leader of the administration at the City of Edinburgh Council before going back to journalism in 1999 as the chief writer of the Edinburgh Evening News.
In 2001 she was appointed chief press officer and then head of international communications to the First Minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell before taking up a position as head of McConnell's office in 2009. During this time, Dalgety also worked for the Scotland Malawi Partnership, a national network to promote and support civil society links between the two countries, as part of her role as head of international communications.
In 2012 she took up a role with The Society of Law Accountants in Scotland (SOLAS), worked as a communications adviser to ProjectScotland.
She is currently a senior associate at the Acitve Learning Centre, a consultant at the Scotsman newspaper and an adviser to the charity 500 Miles.[1]
On the 21 January 2015 it was announced she would taking up the role of communications director during Jim Murphy's election campaign.[2]
Controversies
Views on the SNP
In 1998, when Dalgety was a Labour councillor, she said "I detest the Scottish National Party and everything it stands for", "scratch below the almost acceptable surface of Smarmy Alex Salmond and his small band of MPs and his barmy army is exposed as an assortment of oddballs, extremists and out-and-out racists." She then went on to compare the SNP to the IRA by saying, "we need to look no further than the butchery of Omagh to see for ourselves what happens when nationalism gets out of control. Innocent children die." Before concluding "readers might find my gut reaction to the SNP overdramatic, but I love Scotland too much to stand by and watch it succumb to the intolerant, adolescent demands of bigots."
In 2007, when Alex Salmond became the first minister of Scotland, Dalgety left her post with the Scottish Parliament, thought to be because of how difficult it would be to work with SNP after the quotes in '98.[3]
Notes
- ↑ Susan Dalgety Linkedin, accessed 26 January 2015
- ↑ Victoria Weldon Murphy appoints new comms team, including two with controversial past Herald Scotsman, accessed 26 January 2015
- ↑ Paul Hutcheon Civil servant who made SNP 'racist' jibe quits key post Herald Scotland, 30 June 2007, accessed 26 January 2015
