In a frank interview he accused Jeremy Corbyn ’s Labour of only “talking to itself” and said the leader “has to look at himself seriously in the mirror”.
He told the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland he challenged Mr Corbyn at an emergency shadow cabinet meeting on Friday - but sacking Hilary Benn at 1am over a reported coup was the “final straw”.
The exit of Mr Murray, Labour’s only remaining Scottish MP, means Labour will be forced to choose a shadow Scottish Secretary whose seat is in England or Wales - a massive humiliation for the party in the country where it is now behind the Tories.
He told the programme: “In the last few minutes I’ve written to Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party , with my resignation from the Shadow Cabinet. That letter has just gone off and will be public very shortly.”
He added: “This is the hardest political decision I’ve ever made. I’ve done it because I care about my party but I also more than that care about the country.
“We need a strong Labour party in a position ready for government, we need a strong Labour party in government, to stop these mad decisions from the right wing of the Conservative party that sent our country both at UK level and in Scotland into political and constitutional turmoil.”
He said: “It’s quite clear the Labour Party needs to stop talking to itself. This is why we’ve got into this position at a UK level and... in the Scottish Labour party.
“We have to stop talking to ourselves. This is much much bigger than that.”
Highlighting Labour’s two victories in Edinburgh in the local elections last month, he said: “We’re able to do that because we speak to the entire electorate, not just people who agree with us.
He added: “I just don’t think Jeremy Corbyn ’s able to lead us to be Prime Minister. And I’m not just doing this in public, I raised this at Shadow Cabinet on Friday.
did say to the Shadow Cabinet and to Jeremy directly that I didn’t think at this moment in time that he could be Prime Minister and if he thought he could be Prime Minister then he’s taking to the wrong people and needs to change.
“His change seems to be to have sacked Hilary Benn. I think that’s the wrong way to go and and I think that’s the final straw for many people in the Shadow Cabinet who served for unity.”
He added: “I think Jeremy Corbyn has to look at himself seriously in the mirror and see if he sees himself walking down Downing Street as being Prime Minister, whether or not there’s a general election in six months or in May 2020.
“I think he’s going to find it very difficult to answer yes to those questions. Regrettably he’s a decent human being, a lovely man who I got on incredibly well with but he just can’t lead the Labour party and I don’t think the public think he can be Prime Minister.”
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