Mhairi Black is a working class hero? Don't make me laugh

Scots have always had a soft spot for working class revolutionaries who waxed lyrical but often achieved little.

I’ve been a sucker in my time for some of them too.

But at least the ones I admired were actually involved in serious campaigns to improve livelihoods and lives, as opposed to Mhairi Black who is giving up the ghost in Parliament, claiming it’s too toxic an environment for her to work in.

The writer Jim Spence next to a quote; "Forgive me if I loudly guffaw when I hear Mhairi Black mentioned as some kind of working class hero."

By the time Black, who was elected in May 2015, throws in the towel at the next election, she’ll have nine years of an MP’s salary behind her.

That’s currently a basic rate of £86,584, not including expenses.

By the age of 29 – and with the rest of her career ahead of her – she’ll have accumulated a pension pot bigger than many workers will collect after 40 years or more of graft.

Mhairi Black and defeated Labour candidate Douglas Alexander at the election count following her surprise victory in 2015. — Mhairi Black entered Parliament as MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South following her shock defeat of Labour’s Douglas Alexander.

So forgive me if I loudly guffaw when I hear Mhairi Black mentioned as some kind of working class hero.

I’d reserve that sort of accolade for someone like the late Barbara Castle – a giant of the Labour movement who played a pivotal role in the introduction of the Equal Pay Act, which has proven transformational for women’s earnings – not work-shy whingers like Mhairi Black.