Dear All
Yesterday Alex Salmond reshuffled his Cabinet, in the fullness of time or unless someone tells him, he will realise that this was a blunder.
A blunder!
The big winner was Alex Neil, heard him many times good speaker, keeps on top of his brief and is a good performer on and off television.
The biggest loser was Nicola Sturgeon who accepted the poison chalice of independence; Salmond was later to say that Nicola Sturgeon possessed formidable skills.
If that was the case then why did she allow herself to be moved downwards?
So, Nicola Sturgeon is to be the poster girl of the independence fight.
I have met Nicola Sturgeon and while I am generally easy going I found it hard to like her, this was before I was shafted by the Scottish National Party. Something didn’t sit right with me about her, later on I was proved right but unfortunately I didn’t act on my previous instincts.
Around Sturgeon there is a poisonous nasty little clique who suck up to her for various reasons, in this regard I would never as an SNP member vote for her as leader after Salmond goes.
Two things are glaring obvious why her post was the wrong move; Team Sturgeon lost Glasgow in a dramatic fashion due to their own stupidity and secondly same sex marriage row.
The first debacle questions the warped judgment of those around her and the second is more of a problem since she has alienated a very large chunk of the population.
And if you saw the look on her face from pictures and footage of the Renfrew event, you will know that her appeal isn’t there.
People in Scotland turned up to actively boo her.
If her appointment is an attempt to woo undecided female voters, she isn’t right choice but I suspect she already knows that.
For the crowd down at Westminster who will do the deal on the historic poll, I suspect they will figure her out pretty quickly.
The pressure is on her to deliver and deliver quickly.
Then comes the drip drip effect as poll after poll will continue to show what the last five polls on independence have already shown, support for independence has not just stalled but it is going backwards.
Does anyone actually believe that Nicola Sturgeon can turn this around, even with help from Salmond, Pringle and the others?
I don’t, these are people who are so caught up with their own importance because they have spun their way into their positions they have the Blair complex.
If you caught Newsnight Scotland last night you may have seen what I saw, a rattled Nicola Sturgeon being grilled by Gordon Brewer, maybe the reality has sunk in that this post is a poison chalice, maybe it sunk in that behind her it really is talentless in the SNP.
And just maybe she read my previous blog post where I outlined the SNP’s 1,2,3 prior to the Glasgow Council Election.
Number 1, Team Sturgeon lose Glasgow, it was a humiliating defeat led by what the Labour Party described as an inept SNP leader, Allison Hunter.
Second, the independence defeat, she isn’t bright enough to pull this back even with help, two years of squirming, two years of bad news and two years of head scratching.
The panic will set in for Nicola Sturgeon because when the loss comes, it will be very much seen as her bunny.
Third is the Westminster election of 2015, that’s gone, people will vote Labour as per usual because what the SNP offers is exactly the same as their previous offerings which have been unappealing.
And the moves yesterday by Alex Salmond was greeted by glee from the opposition who to coin a phrase ‘are luving it’!
Johann Lamont, Scottish Labour Leader, said:
"When he put forward his programme for government, the First Minister made it clear the referendum was his one and only priority.
"If anyone had any doubt he has lost touch with the priorities of Scottish families, it was confirmed when he moved his most senior minister Nicola Sturgeon from health to the constitution. We face a real challenge delivering health services at a time of diminishing resources but Nicola Sturgeon has run away from that to concentrate on the referendum."
She said the infrastructure role was now a "part-time job".
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP said:
"That the health of the nation now plays second fiddle to the break-up of Britain says it all about this SNP administration.
"The First Minister has moved his most trusted lieutenant from one of Scotland's most critical briefs to pursue his nationalist agenda”.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said:
"This reshuffle shows that the SNP Government only has eyes for independence. They are more interested in running the referendum than running the country."
Accepting a poison chalice, how bright is that, surprised that Nicola Sturgeon fell for the old SNP trick of accepting something and then being left in the lurch, and then to make it worse being patronised by Alex Salmond saying she has formidable skills.
If she was that formidable why didn’t she dodge the bullet?
If people booing her in the street doesn't tell her something, nothing will, I am sure I will see the same look on her face as she walked out the door of the SECC after Team Sturgeon ran their own campaign into the ground again.
And as Nicola Sturgeon knows, George Laird is always right!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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