SNP World of Treachery; Nationalist NEC rule change works to benefit Nicola Sturgeon ally, Angus Robertson, SNP make their selection process so unfair that sitting SNP MP Joanna Cherry is forced to pull out of Holyrood candidate bid, the war to get rid of Nicola Sturgeon will have to be fought on a different battlefield where Sturgeon’s SNP don’t control the rules.

Dear All

A long time ago, I blogged on the Court of King Alex and the Court of Queen Nicola, after losing the indyref in 2014, Alex Salmond was shuffled off to Westminster, and the Sturgeon Empire emerged. Rather than be yesterday’s man on the backbenches of Holyrood, he founded the Court of King Alex. Kingship secured he packed his bags and headed down south, and was content. He had a Court of newbie MPs dazzled by the bright lights of Westminster, and was seen as the leader, until he lost his seat. If he had stayed in Holyrood every time Nicola Sturgeon made a decision, every one would have turned their head to look at Salmond. So for political expediency he had to go. When the noises started that Salmond was considering a return to Holyrood, this set the alarms bells ringing in the Sturgeon camp. The Sturgeon camp comfortable with their new found power and status dreaded the prospect of losing their position. In a world of treachery and deceit which is the SNP, Salmond had to be stopped from coming back. Salmond if allowed back into Holyrood would eventually challenge Nicola Sturgeon for the leadership because since she took control, the failures of her government have been laid bare over time.

But before Alex Salmond could make a return to Holyrood, the rules in the Scottish Government were changed so that complaints against former ministers could be investigated. This led to the farce of what many people thought was a ‘stitch up’ against the former SNP leader and First Minister. I met Alex Salmond many times, and when the allegations came out, I was shocked; I struggled to think that they could possibly be true. Although it was said by many he could be tough and hard work, in his interactions with me and others on the campaign trail, he was what I expected a leader to be. Salmond gave the impression that we were all in this campaign together, something which Nicola Sturgeon could never do when I campaigned for her.

The Scottish Government rules were successfully challenged by Alex Salmond in a judicial review and he won his case. People were angry because they had a right to be angry, the process was unfair and designed to find him guilty. You can read more about this online and why after reading the details, many people were disappointed and called this a stitch up. And that is what the Scottish Government complaints procedure was designed to do, stitch up a person and deny them a fair hearing. Having lost that battle to destroy Alex Salmond, something unusual happened next. The emergence of what some people called ‘The Alphabet Women’ came more to light which led to a criminal trial of Alex Salmond.

The Alphabet Women it appeared seemed to have something in common, as pointed out by many, a closeness to Team Sturgeon.

In a dramatic court case which could have seen Alex Salmond lose his freedom, his reputation, and his career on RT, he fought against his 10 accusers, and a jury of his peers in Edinburgh found him innocent. Having won his victory, it seemed his accusers were quick to continue the fight against him, using avenues like Rape Crisis Scotland to publish their post verdict letter. The first battle was won by Alex Salmond, the second battle was won by Alex Salmond, he and his allies defended, now as he appeared outside the Court in Edinburgh, he said in plain speak, it was time to go on the offensive, when we reached a post covid world. In the press and on social media, his media, his supporters would fire political salvos into the Sturgeon camp, highlighting policy failures or the need to secure a second indyref.

Although Salmond checked his fire, continuing on with his show on RT, what was clearly emerging was a split in the SNP ranks, over Salmond and over independence. Former SNP MSP Dave Thompson and the Alliance for Independence caught out many, SNP version 2.0 was condemned by Team Sturgeon as splitting the Nationalist vote. SNP version 2.0 is all about scooping up regional list seats and has been condemned as ‘gaming the system’. My view on this is simple, Holyrood was setup wrong, it was setup to ‘game the system’ by the then Labour Government in Westminster. I am a long time supporter of removal of the list system, in its place; I would replace it with 129 seats, all FPTP, no list. Instead of an MSP representing circa 3 wards, they would represent two in new drawn up boundaries.

As the split in the SNP goes on, the public is finding out how dirty SNP politics actually is, a member of Team Salmond, SNP MP Joanna Cherry has effectively been blocked by Team Sturgeon from standing for Holyrood. You might ask how this was done, simply by changing the rules. It is well known that Angus Robertson is a Sturgeon ally, Cherry is a Salmond ally, and a threat to the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon. I don’t think much of Cherry but she seems to be useful as a Salmond proxy. What the SNP NEC have done is to change the rules so that members could not run for Holyrood if they were a sitting MP. By doing so, Cherry must resign as an MP prior to entering the contest, so she would be unemployed and so would her staff.

Regardless of my thoughts on Cherry, the individual, this rule is unfair, undemocratic and plain nasty, but this is what you get in the SNP under the ‘cult of personality’. No one crosses the leader, and the leader is Sturgeon. Sturgeon as I pointed out is a wee vicious nasty poisonous individual who should have never risen to the top; she is no leader but holds the position. As bad as Sturgeon is, what makes up her Team Sturgeon surrounding her is equally on a par with her and also they have more time to operate in the shadows. As seen on twitter the news of the rule change in favour of Angus Robertson hasn't gone down well with SNP supporters who have taken to twitter to vent their anger, some to Sturgeon’s twitter account. What the SNP supporters haven’t worked out; and it took me long enough when I was a member, is that the SNP is a party within a party. Sturgeon doesn’t care what the ordinary rank and file think of her, she cares about their votes and their money, that’s it.

  

When Joanna Cherry announced she would be seeking the nomination for the Edinburgh Central seat, you knew there would be trouble, so to clear the way for Angus Robertson, the easiest thing to do was a rule change. Since barring Cherry as a candidate wasn’t viable or an option, she had to be allowed to stand, but making a financial barrier threw the decision back on Cherry. It had to be Cherry’s decision to stand down to dampen down the flames, but no one can have any doubt what has been done here.  

In a statement Cherry said:

“I have not had the courtesy of any official confirmation of this decision and would not normally comment on leaks of internal party matters, however private discussions by the current SNP NEC seem to regularly reach the press and I understand that the information which has been leaked is correct. I think that most fair-minded people will see the events of the last few days for what they are. Edinburgh Central SNP, the branch of which I have been a member since I joined the SNP 12 years ago, has the right to choose the candidate it wants to field in the 2021 Holyrood election. Branch democracy is an important part of our party. Members of Edinburgh Central had hoped that I would be part of a fair and open contest, but this decision makes that impossible.”

Cherry added:

“It is unprecedented in our party’s history of dual mandates to demand that a parliamentarian make themselves and their constituency staff unemployed in order to be eligible to be a candidate. It is particularly unreasonable to demand this in the middle of a pandemic. I am not prepared to do it and so unless circumstances change, I won’t be seeking nomination for Holyrood in this election. I have been overwhelmed by the messages of support from party members and members of the public. I believe I stood a very good chance to be selected to fight the seat where I have lived for most of my life and I want to thank everyone who has emailed, written or stopped me in the street to offer their support. I would like to reassure my constituents that I shall continue to represent their interests as their MP and to the grassroots members of our party, I promise that I will continue to advocate for independence, democratic reform of our party and open debate. As Westminster is in recess, I am about to take some time off to spend with my partner and my family and I won’t be making any further comment at this stage.”

Notice she said, “I will continue to advocate for independence, democratic reform of our party and open debate”. Does that sound like someone who is happy? So, Cherry stands down, but that doesn’t mean that Team Salmond can’t field another candidate unless Team Sturgeon has also shut off that route as well. One thing which should be mentioned is the call by Team Salmond for a ‘clear out’ at SNP HQ, and any clear out must include Peter Murrell, Sturgeon’s husband. Although Salmond is sitting on the fence, he must realise that what Cherry faced to block her, re rules changes would also be applied to him in his efforts to return as leader or even as a member.

Is there a Team Salmond MSP kicking about the place willing to call for a leadership contest against Nicola Sturgeon?

Will Salmond come to the conclusion that SNP version 2.0 is now his best vehicle and option for a return to Holyrood?

Salmond said he ‘loves’ the SNP, but he has to wake up to the fact that those who now control the SNP levers don’t love him and want him gone.

Finally, if the SNP was a house, it would be condemned as rotten, although there are seats up for grabs as some in the SNP ranks depart after this Holyrood term, Salmond is a name that is doubtful to appear anytime soon on an SNP ballot paper. If Salmond and his supporters want their revenge, it is increasingly likely that they will have to pull down the party brick by brick from both the inside and the outside. Leaders who lose elections have a tendency to step down, but with no future avenue emerging for Sturgeon to jump to regards employment, her options are leave politics or stay in place. I sincerely doubt Team Salmond have her welfare at heart or that of her husband, when she goes, he goes, and given no future leader has emerged in Team Sturgeon or as CEO in waiting, the Murrells will have to tough it out because rebellions from the inside only have to be lucky once.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University