Dear All
What can you say about the leadership of SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, the right man in the right place, or a circus clown on the UK parliamentary stage who fails to realise that he isn't leading and isn't funny? Blackford is leader at Westminster because there is basically no one else capable. A likely candidate would be the deputy but as we saw with Kirsty Blackman, even a little responsibility can sometimes be too much. If you look at the current Chief Whip Owen Thompson MP, he has his own problems, like trying to string a coherent sentence together. If you failed to catch Owen Thompson's intervention when David Davis spoke under parliamentary privilege regarding the Alex Salmond affair you missed a treat. If I was an Alba MP protected under parliamentary privilege, I would have named everyone of the close circle who surround Nicola Sturgeon, and who had a hand in that affair in the House of Commons. Thompson looked panic when David Davis MP spoke, his concern was about David Davis naming names beyond what the public was current told and their role in attempting to imprison Salmond. Although the Salmond Court case failed to remove Alex Salmond from public life, and have him imprisoned, the affair isn't over.
There is a small matter of historical revenge that Salmond's supporters want to address, and Sturgeon's crew know this isn't going away! I don't know if you have ever taken the time to look through the SNP front bench at Westminster, it is remarkably unimpressive, and I urge you to take a peep, just to satisfy yourself, these people couldn't run a piss up in a brewery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontbench_Team_of_Ian_Blackford
Although these people are the 'chosen ones', loyal sheep, some more quieter than others, they are just sheep. One name is missing in this line up, probably one of the few SNP MPs who ever made a mark at Westminster on a technical point, that is Joanna Cherry. Cherry who is seen as a threat to the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon has been effectively cast out within her own party. When Joanna Cherry was sacked from the Justice Brief, she is a QC, the role was handed to Anne McLaughlin who is a Sturgeon supporter. McLaughlin is an absolute waste of space, can you remember anything she has said in her role in the SNP front bench? Can you remember her accomplishing anything in politics other than employing her relatives and boyfriend? Probably not. You can understand that Sturgeon's crew are keen to suppress anyone who is a Salmond ally, or an independence supporter. It seems everyone in the SNP Westminster Group gets a 'made up' title except Joanna Cherry, because it is important for the SNP to establish in her mind that she isn't welcome. Although Cherry isn't special, she has made a mark by using observational skills and understanding to catch out the Westminster Government. Most of the rest of the SNP front bench at Westminster couldn't catch a frisbee if someone tossed it at them. Cherry has certainly been cast out, marginalised, her use to the SNP is merely voter fodder in the lobby as the SNP protest against any UK Government provisions. Opposition for opposition sake!
What really make Joanna Cherry a target was as mentioned, she is a direct threat to Nicola Sturgeon's leadership, if Sturgeon goes, then the raising of Angus Robertson to leader isn't a done deal. The longer that Nicola Sturgeon doesn't deliver a second indy referendum, the more tainted she is, and her supporters like Angus Robertson. At present, there is a con trick being run by the SNP with people, fake independence referendum 2 preparations. It is the election gag run at council, Holyrood and Westminster elections since 2007. The SNP at Westminster have gave themselves 'titles' to sound important, but as we hve seen by the performance of Angus Robertson at Holyrood as a Minister, Westminster was a school for learning governance, it was more akin to being a London social club for nationalists to milk the system. Nothing that any SNP MP does at Westminster generally matters, they aren't changing Scotland, they aren't changing UK policy and they aren't learning anything that matters except filling in expenses claims to max out their take out.
As Joanna Cherry is a cast out, her shield of protection is also gone, and with Cherry positioning herself as a women's rights advocate in direct opposition to Nicola Sturgeon's Gender Reforms to allow men into women's personal spaces, Cherry has a target painted on her back. The SNP has a rule that members must not criticise other members publicly, this rule was to suppress dissent at Nicola Sturgeon's leadership. Women's rights is a good platform for Joanna Cherry to use against Sturgeon because she will continue to get a high profile from it. Cherry taking up the criminal case of Marion Millar who spoke up for women's rights is also guaranteed to increase the notion that Cherry is really the 'leader in waiting' in the SNP and not Angus Robertson. So you can understand why attacks on Cherry from within the SNP are allowed, ignored and sanctioned by inaction. In a recent flare up, Ian Blackford has denied his leadership of the SNP at Westminster has failed in calling out abuse suffered by Joanna Cherry. The attacks on Cherry are noticeable by who is doing them, Kirsty Blackman who appears to wish to see the SNP act against Cherry and have her removed as an MP. Blackman was previously Deputy leader of the Westminster Group under Blackford.
Kirsty Blackman doesn't hold an SNP front bench position, she is also the ideal person to attack Joanna Cherry, loyal to the Sturgeon, loyal to the Sturgeon doctrine of trans rights. She is far enough outside the SNP leadership group to be a 'clean pair of hands' doing the dirty work against Cherry. Also, Blackman is ideal for the task because she if she goes too far can play the mental health card as protection. In July 2020 Blackman announced that she would be stepping down as the deputy leader of the SNP Westminster Group, saying "Like many others, I've struggled with the impact that lockdown has had on my mental health. In order to prioritise my constituency and my family, I have made the difficult personal decision to step down from my Leadership role. I strongly believe that people must be able to talk openly about mental health issues, which affect so many of us". You don't see others from what I can see attacking Joanna Cherry from the SNP front bench, why is that? Surely they are all signed up to the trans agenda like Blackman? In the wake of the recent murder of Sir David Amess, the debate instead of focus on the real issue has been turned towards abuse and harassment of MPs and possible censorship. The murder of the Conservative MP was said to be linked to Islamic Extremism, and the police are treating the killing as a terrorist incident. Some people will obviously use Sir David Amess' death to push their own agenda like Cherry.
Cherry in the wake of the recent tragedy, has spoken of the abuse and harassment she has faced both by SNP members and others. This is a dig at the SNP leadership of Nicola Sturgeon and Ian Blackford. The Edinburgh South West MP has told how she considered leaving elected politics due to the level of abuse and threats she receives. As I wrote in a previous post, I am not buying Joanna Cherry's crap, if she was going to leave politics, she can dos so at anytime, to me this is nonsense, someone looking for sympathy when there is none to be had. Last year, Cherry was fighting with the SNP leadership over the abuse she claimed to have received over her stance on reforming gender recognition and trans rights. When she pinned her colours to the mast over women's rights, it was more than about rights, it was opposition to Sturgeon and her cult.
The SNP leadership at SNP HQ has a history of ignoring complaints, which is why if a Salmond ally ever takes the throne, people like Ian McCann et al should be sacked immediately. There is of course scope for a clear out beyond SNP HQ into Holyrood and Westminster support staff but that is a longer post for another time. Cherry highlights the inaction of SNP HQ run by Nicola Sturgeon's husband, Peter Murrell by saying that "despite my complaints, indeed pleas for help, nothing has been done to address this issue”. Well, this isn't a new thing, it has been happening over many years. The SNP is run as a cult, there is a party within a party, it was noticeable and developed under Salmond's nose. Alex Salmond in part is to blame for how the SNP developed, different factions were allowed to grow unchecked within the party, in some ways it is reminds me of Labour's fight with militant tendency except the various factions took over control of the party machine and leadership.
In highlighting her problems, Joanna Cherry said:
“When is someone in the leadership of my party going to call out the campaign of abuse, smears, and violent intimidation against me?”
Never!
You see Nicola Sturgeon, Murrell and Blackford have no interest in doing anything to protect Cherry, she is an enemy, a cuckoo in the nest and a threat. You can see this by the way that the Sturgeon controlled SNP changed the rules to prevent her standing for Holyrood.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-53607198
The general feeling of some was that the rule change was to ensure that Nicola Sturgeon's 'heir in waiting' Angus Robertson was a shoo in. In order for Cherry to stand for Holyrood, she would have to resign as an MP. When the rules got changed, Cherry voiced her displeasure by saying:
"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."
If you want to cheat someone out of an opportunity, change the rules after they express an interest in apply for a position. Although the SNP in theory has a NEC committee, they are puppets who dangle on a string to Sturgeon's tune. If the SNP is willing to cheat someone out of a fair opportunity, does Cherry really think that bullying issues of the same person would be acted upon? Seriously, who is kidding who? In response to Cherry's statements of harassment and abuse, Ian Blackford told the Scottish Parliamentary Journalists' Association that there has been no failure in his leadership in rooting out abuse and supporting Ms Cherry. There has been no failure because there has been no action! Blackford insisting that he was “concerned that there’s toxicity in our politics” is laughable, it is firefighting bad PR. He added that “we’ve all got a responsibility to make sure that we can get to a better place”. Tell me, can you ever forget that the seat that Ian Blackford holds is the same seat that Charles Kennedy held when he was effectively bullied to death by the SNP? The death of Charles Kennedy, and how he died is one of the worst episodes in the history of the SNP.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/ian-blackford-and-the-hounding-of-charles-kennedy
Please take the time to read this article.
Blackford
added:
“Since
I became SNP Westminster leader in 2017, I made clear that I wanted to make
sure that we did offer pastoral support in a broad sense – whether that may be
a member of parliament or whether that be a member of staff. It’s really
important that we do offer that support to people. I can absolutely assure you
that that is done and is done in all cases.
“I will always make sure that every colleague, whether that’s a member of parliament or whether it's a member of staff will be offered support.”
Recently two SNP MPs Patrick Grady and Patricia Gibson was alleged to have committed sexual misconduct. Where was the support for the alleged victim? Where is the SNP investigations into both Grady and Gibson? Grady is alleged to have committed sexual misconduct against young men. Nothing has happened to Grady, he is a Sturgeon ally, nothing has happened to Patricia Gibson, her husband is the 'seal' who sits behind Nicola Sturgeon at Holyrood and bangs the table showing support for her. The SNP is a sleazy unethical and devoid of morals party. Cherry serious about asking for her help or is she establishing victim status? In the aftermath of firing Cherry from the front bench, the press asked Blackford if he regretted firing Cherry.
He said:
“I have to make decisions in terms of who should be on my front bench. Every party leader does that - the Prime Minister does that with his Cabinet and Keir Starmer does it with the Labour (shadow ) cabinet. It’s up to me to choose the people that I think are best suited to serve in a collective way.”
Cherry was replaced by Anne McLaughlin, who is clearly not in any way as capable of holding the justice brief as Cherry. The argument used by Blackford is bogus, he is saying that McLaughlin is 'best suited to serve in a collective way' which means she isn't the best person for the job. Cherry isn't seen as being part of the 'gang' even although she far outstrips McLaughlin on ability, education, talent and presentation, whatever happened to merit?. The bit I find interesting in Blackford's firefighting is him defending his decision to allow North Ayrshire and Arran MP Patricia Gibson to remain on his frontbench while she is investigated over sexual harassment complaints made by an SNP staffer.
Blackford said:
“At the end of the day, there are complaints that have been made and these complaints have to be heard. We will deal with those accordingly. There’s no reason at the moment that I should be taking any particular action against Patricia. Justice has got to prevail and whether it’s Patricia or anyone else, they along with the complainant have got the right to that process to be heard without being judged ahead of any completion of the process.”
Finally,
due process isn't happening is it? Derek Mackay, a Sturgeon ally, previous 'heir
in waiting' before Robertson was under investigation for his actions. Mackay
was said to be grooming a young 16 year old boy who he found 'cute'. The SNP
investigation was ended when Mackay didn't stand for re-election, and he left
the party. The proposed boundary changes may take care of Patrick Grady's
political career as an MP, but there will be no end to the investigation until
after the 2024 Westminster election. Why does it take several years for the SNP
to investigation allegations of sexual misconduct against Nicola Sturgeon's
allies? I am sure if you are smart enough, you can work out why, it is because
the SNP plan to do nothing, and then refer to these complaints as 'historic'
allegations which are unproven. When Ian Ian Blackford denies his leadership
has failed in rooting out SNP abuse of Joanna Cherry, I say remember Charles
Kennedy, remember how he died, and remember those who drove him to his death.
The SNP don't right wrongs, they do wrongs!
Yours sincerely
George Laird The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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