Nicola’s SNP Conference From Hell, every SNP Conference for Nicola Sturgeon is an exercise in ‘managing the membership’ away from Scottish independence,’ Sturgeon uses a false message of hope to get through October Conference, rather looking like that Nicola Sturgeon won’t deliver a second independence referendum as First Minister

Dear All

When a politician isn’t able to address the issues they end up talking fantasy, Patrick Harvie did it at a debate on the EU which I was a guest speaker, and today in wind and rain swept Glasgow, Nicola Sturgeon is punting fantasy as well. Nicola Sturgeon is insisting that an independent Scotland offers an oasis of optimism in the face of Brexit chaos. Since there are structured talks ongoing, this doesn’t fit the definition of chaos by any means.

Prime Minister Theresa May will deliver Brexit on 29^th March 2019, the talks ongoing with the EU are about the new relationship with the EU, not going back in, not having EU lite membership or any other jargon.

Do you know what is really going on?

Nicola Sturgeon is desperately trying to save her bacon by trying to keep a lid on tensions over a second referendum when she knows see cannot get a second section 30 order. No order means no referendum, and if you add in the fact that the SNP would lose a second referendum, you can see why Sturgeon is desperate to ‘get off the hook’.

Anyone listening to her today and swallowing her guff is a mug, yes, a sucker, a brain dead moron, a sheep, a dupe, conned all the way. Nicola Sturgeon is on a clock, she has a limited shelf life as First Minister, so she is keen to hang on as long as she can to get enough ‘Scottish roubles’ before she ends up on the SNP backbenches. After the last referendum, Alex Salmond left in ‘the huff’, fell on his rubber sword then went to Westminster to setup his ‘Court of King Alex’.

Due to a hiccup in the plan, he was removed by the public in the snap general election in 2017.

Currently Salmond is working for The Alex Salmond Show which appears on the Russian RT channel, some people claim like disgraced Tommy Sheridan that he is part of the ‘Scottish puppet’ class. Salmond’s travel to the bottom continues unabated, and he even has a few domestic problems like the investigation by Police Scotland and his other brush with the legal system over a judicial review.

The focus that Sturgeon wants the SNP and the independence supporters to look at is Westminster, look there but don’t look at her as she attempts to channel grievance on the stage of the SNP Conference in Glasgow. In what is complete hot air, she said she might use her mandate to demand a new vote before the 2021 Holyrood election. No one recognises her ‘mandate’ in Westminster and no one is going to give her a section 30 order in this term of Holyrood.

Nicola Sturgeon can ask but she has no authority hence there will be no vote, she knows and if you don’t know then you need to brush up on what a section 30 order means in practice.

The Yes movement is steadily breaking away from the SNP, they want to accelerate the push for independence but the SNP know that from polling, they haven’t made any progress in four years. The truth is the polling shows that there is still flux in Scottish politics and that the SNP support from the public is dripping away. The Unionist parties however still haven’t capitalised on this properly, they are making slight headway but not enough for various reasons. The Scottish Conservatives need a robust huge ground operation to pitch a unique Scottish offer, and the Labour Party has the problems of internal division, lack of a narrative and in some cases people campaigning without a clue what they are doing due to lack of planning.

Nicola Sturgeon told ITV:

“I’d like there to be a second independence referendum yesterday and failing yesterday, tomorrow – but it’s not just down to what I want.”

The key words are ‘I’d like’ an admission that the ‘mandate’ is a figment of the imagination, and a recognition that authority rests with the UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

And she isn’t going to budge on this issue, it’s a dead duck request!

If you caught any of the headlines, you might have read that SNP MP Joanna Cherry mouth off at a fringe meeting that independence could be achieved without a repeat of 2014’s referendum. No one is going the Joanna Cherry route who insisted a “democratic event” such as a general election would be enough to walk away from the UK. This is a classic example of nonsense, done to create an image and manage an image, sheer propaganda tripe.  

Another banger to ‘bang the drum’ is Angus Brendan MacNeil, ‘three in a bed’ Angus who has been the MP for the Western Isles since 2005, said the SNP must not “dither” and instead act on independence here and now. It is said that in the ‘three in a bed’ incident that Angus didn’t pump the guts out of the two birds, so why did he ‘dither’?

Is he an expert on ‘dithering’?   

The contempt that the SNP Cult has for the membership is simply extraordinary!

MacNeil told the SNP conference delegates that “another way” would have to be found if the UK Government refused to allow a legally binding vote.

I assume that doesn’t mean rebellion, coup or UDI!

The SAS would just round up these jokers for the gulag and it would be highly entertaining as Sturgeon and Co sit behind the barbed wire awaiting a court date. But the reality is that Nicola Sturgeon is no rebel, she will keep taking the FM salary and perks as long as possible. Also since phones are banned in prison, the withdrawal symptoms of not taking ‘selfies’ would be hard for her.

No one is going the Joanna Cherry route who insisted a “democratic event” such as a general election would be enough to walk away from the UK.

Deputy SNP leader Keith Brown told SNP delegates the party was “stepping up the campaign for independence”. There is no campaign running at present for Scottish independence, there is no Yes Scotland 2 running; there is nothing happening! So, all the nonsense interventions by MacNeil, Cherry and others are seen for what they are, ‘managing the membership’.

Scottish Tory chief whip Maurice Golden said Ms Sturgeon had “led the SNP troops half way into battle, and then called halt”.

He added:

“When it comes to Scotland’s future, everyone in the SNP has an opinion but nobody has a plan. All the while, Scotland’s schools are going backwards, waiting times are being missed, and the economy is in the slow lane. Nicola Sturgeon can show leadership today by doing the right thing: and taking a second referendum off the table. The SNP army might not like it, but at least they’d know what was going on.”

Finally, one thing to remember, every SNP Conference from now on is an exercise in ‘managing the membership’ away from Scottish independence, although this will work for a while, there will come a time when a sizeable number of the SNP will call for Sturgeon to be removed as leader. Whether this will happen before she has enough money and pension contributions squirreled away is an open ended question.

But it is rather looking like that Nicola Sturgeon won’t deliver a second independence referendum as First Minister.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University