Scottish independence: Yes Scotland has lost all five of its directors since it was launched in 2012, Blair Jenkins says it is evolving, some just call it an SNP front, either way, the organisation is dead in the water, another unpopular Nicola Sturgeon ‘success’ story

Dear All

Time for a quote:

“Yes Scotland is an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am thrilled to play a part in running a positive campaign to secure a Yes vote in 2014.”

Susan Stewart formerly of one the spinners at Glasgow University!

She was a member of the "top team" of directors at Yes Scotland, seen by many as an SNP front.

Now the organisation is in meltdown after losing the last two directors.

Only Blair Jenkins remains and he should never have been appointed in the first place.

Ian Dommett and Stan Blackley are gone as director of marketing and deputy director of communities.

And it is said that the exits were not voluntary.

Maybe failed SNP Candidate Natalie McGarry who imploded the SNP vote in Cowdenbeath will be parachuted in to save the day!

Well maybe not parachuted.

Yes Scotland has now lost all five directors since their appointment in September 2012.

If a job is worth doing it is worth doing well, but why such a lack of commitment?

Is it because Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is the ‘face of independence’?

Well that’s a thought!

In trying to spin out the debacle as something dynamic; Yes camp insiders said such changes were common for a dynamic political campaign.

People leaving is dynamic, all the directors?

Ha Ha Ha on spinning that rubbish to the Scottish public.

One can only wonder how Patrick Harvie feels having signed up the Greens to a ‘rat ship’ controlled organisation!

Maybe he has regrets now!

The pro-Union Better Together movement which appears to be ticking along nicely has claimed Yes Scotland was "in crisis".

No one is backing Alex Salmond and unpopular Nicola Sturgeon, although in fairness, there was a blip in an opinion poll at the weekend that the Nationalists, sorry SNP clique have seized on like a starving man gone mad with hunger.

Rumours doing the treadmill have Yes Scotland suffering from financial problems.

And the general thumb is to shed jobs when that happens.

Poor Stan Blackley, the treehugger, a friend of the Earth must be upset to lose his meal ticket.

If we think back to those heady days of spin when Yes Scotland started we saw Blair Jenkins boasted in a press statement that his five directors were "a team of the highest calibre".

He said:

"Each one of them has a proven track record in his or her field of expertise and I am confident that with their input and commitment we can deliver a Yes vote in 2014."

Former RBS manager Jacqueline Caldwell left as director of operations in March last year for unexplained "personal reasons".

Former Glasgow University media boss Susan Stewart left as director of communications in July as part of a "streamlining" operation.

And former Nationalist MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville quit as director of communities in November to fight the Dunfermline by-election, she is now deputy Chief Executive of the SNP.

Ian Dommett is a marketing guru and director of the Cor Agency, but he couldn’t sell independence, Salmond version.

Then there is bring up the rear, Stan Blackley, a former chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland.

Forced out it appears!

An SNP source has claimed the party was "carrying" Yes Scotland, saying:

"We keep getting told things are wonderful, but they're not delivering on the ground for folk, that's quite clear."

Nicola’s in charge, that is why you are told things are wonderful, imagine not working that out!

Blair McDougall, Better Together's campaign director, said:

"It looks like Yes Scotland's refusal to release details of donations is an attempt to cover up a campaign in crisis. They must come clean and disclose their donors. A campaign with a genuine breadth of support simply would not be in financial meltdown."

Sounds about right, measured statement!

Jenkins said Yes Scotland was evolving, evolving into what?

A beautiful butterfly!

It is not in trouble says Jenkins, and then he thanked Dommett and Blackley for their efforts.

No doubt they will be happy!

In a statement Jenkins said:

"This is a unique campaign that will decide the future of our country, and we are totally focused on winning a Yes vote. That means we will continually test and optimise our effectiveness as the campaign evolves and moves through different phases towards September 18. Our team is therefore being augmented by a number of creative specialists, with extensive campaign experience, who will help us deliver those messages widely, and in innovative ways. I'm confident we now have the range of talents needed for the intensive and exciting period ahead, and that as we move towards the referendum, our marketing approach will continue to lead, to listen to, and to align with, campaign dynamics."

I would say that Blair Jenkins knows shit about political campaigning, and opine that his ‘creative specialists’ will milk whatever money is left and then get the hell out of Dodge.

Freedommmmmmmmmmmmmmm! 

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University