Of course a contested election won't change the outcome, but what it would do is keep John Swinney honest by forcing him to set out a platform which he can be scrutinised and challenged on before he becomes leader, not after. And it would also send a clear message to the SNP's equivalent of the "deep state" that they might sometimes be able to stitch up the outcome, but they can't entirely stitch up the process. That's important given the reports today that the usual suspects are already plotting to pre-arrange the outcome of the next leadership election.
Saturday, May 4, 2024
Are you an SNP member and do you want a contested leadership election? If so, here's how you get one.
I'm purely offering this as information for any Scot Goes Pop readers who happen to be SNP members - and I'm getting it all second hand so apologies if anything turns out to be wrong. An SNP member called Graeme McCormick is trying to stand for the leadership in order to force a contest. He needs 100 nominations from members, and those members need to be spread across at least 20 branches. Nominations will be collected in person today, between 1pm and 3pm, at the Pensioners 4 Indy stall in Glasgow Green as part of the AUOB rally. You'll need to have your membership number handy. Alternatively, if you can't make it to Glasgow Green, contact details for Graeme can be found HERE.
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John Swinney is dishonest?
ReplyDeleteTo be fair John Swinney is generally thought to be honest, which is why he in fact has the nickname among SNP supporters of "honest John".
ReplyDeleteBy that logic, bald men who are ironically called "Curly" are generally thought to have a full head of hair.
DeleteHonest John is the fox who aided and abetted Pinocchio’s transition into a donkey.
DeleteSwinney was Sturgeon's right hand man. Honesty is maybe not his greatest attribute.
ReplyDeleteAnd you probably knew that all along, didn't you? Oh yes, you could write a book about it. You've seen it all now. You probably always knew that Nicola Sturgeon would turn out to be the worst person ever to walk the earth. Even before she was born. Can you also predict the lottery numbers?
DeleteNot much reading comprehension through all that red mist, eh Mary?
DeleteThey never said that. What they did allude to was Swinney’s intimate involvement with Nicola’s administration, and, as IfS often puts it his rĂ´le as: “redactor man.”
Ifs -redactor man or Alex’s man?
DeleteIan Funcan Smith? Oh god is he an authority now? Jeeeez...
DeleteSturgeon was Salmond's right hand woman for a decade. Working closely with somebody very evidently does not signify or necessitate that they share one another's personal attributes.
DeleteThanks for the heads-up, James, I'll try to get there before 3.
ReplyDeleteI've now deleted at least eight blatant astroturfing comments on this thread. I strongly suspect they all came from the same person. If this carries on I'll have to take more drastic action. Don't ruin it for everyone else.
ReplyDeleteIf by drastic action you mean "upgrade your blogging platform," good. You shouldn't be complaining about astroturfing and using it as an excuse to delete comments you don't like if you don't have actual evidence of it.
DeleteMake that ten. Please stop. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteFrom the BBC News App:
ReplyDelete“Hundreds take part in march for Scottish independence “
This is really going to strike fear in unionists.
It will. Imagine if they'd been marching because they wanted to be dancers on a cruise liner. That would scare nobody. Unless they were a shower of dumplings.
DeleteAll Under One Banner made the same misstep as the SNP and the Greens. They became overly partisan and started playing favourites with different parts of the independence movement.
DeleteGranted, AUOB's increasing factionalisation happened in response to the SNP/Greens doing the same. But a mistake remains a mistake, whether it's a reactive one or not.
And now we see the result. An atomised movement where a few hundred stragglers show up to marches that not so long ago commanded thousands.
AUOB is, rightly or wrongly, seen as an Alba front. Alba voted against the S G, an act of monumental stupidity. It will be their downfall. No Alba candidate will ever be elected at any level. We need a list only party in time for the next Holyrood elections, and we need the SNP to trust that party and vice versa. AUOB has been ruined by Alba. It would be as well disbanding.
DeleteAnon @ 7-36pm
DeleteWe dont require ANY new list party.
SNP are invited to AUOB demonstrations but they don't come.
DeleteAnonymous @ 7:36PM
DeleteSNP in it’s current state will not trust ANYONE who is serious about Independence. The “progressive” Sturgeonite clique has captured that party & they don’t want to share power. Nor do they want to push for Independence because 1) they don’t have the wit to do it & 2) they wouldn’t succeed so they’d lose their jobs / power in the long run.
Alba aren’t really the problem. Sure, I know they hate Salmond & he probably hates a few of them (I think they hate him more), but take him away & they still wouldn’t work with anyone who is serious about Indy. The only reason they share power with the Greens is the Greens also don’t prioritise Independence, and share their brainless “progressive” agenda.
We don’t need a list party the SNP can trust, we need a list party who can scare the SNP into listening to & working with the Yes Movement.
Three replies, all examples of cognitive dissonance on steroids. If more list MSPs cannot be secured by Indy supporting parties, we are going nowhere.
DeleteAUAB
ReplyDeleteALL under Alba Banner.
When his sole MSP chooses to vote along with unionists to bring down a Scottish Independence supporting Government and then uses a public rally platform to "thinly disguise" his contempt for the same by using terms such as ' attempting to de-motivate' ... I despair.
James ...you hardly need me to suggest you should consider your position re. Alba.
I am..of course..refering to K. McCaskill.
Well said! Very disappointing behaviour from someone whom I once revered as a politician.
DeleteKenny MacAskill is not an MSP and therefore did not "vote along with unionists" to do anything. If you're going to snark about "AUAB", perhaps you should brush up on who's in which parliament first.
DeleteIt's not the flex you think it is to say "Our MSP contingent voted with the Unionists instead of our MP contingent". But I suspect you're aware of that.
DeleteSemantic pedantry is often the last recourse of the person who's made a mistake and can't admit it. And boy, from what I've heard from formerly sympathetic soft Alba supporters, did Alba make ONE HELL of a mistake.
"They're as pro independence as Douglas Ross" was one that particularly stuck with me. And one that will stick with Alba now, thanks to Ash's reckless fit of pique.
Salmond was a good leader, Sturgeon was liar and a fake with narcicistic tendencies. The fact that she went after her former leader and made sure his legacy was trashed. Tells you all you need to know about the woman. The fact that so many SNP members have accepted the narrative. Tells you just how gullible the current SNP members are.
ReplyDeleteI don't get told what to think by Sturgeon or the media. I think for myself.
She was a fraud, and Swinney is a fraud. I just feel pity for the gullible, not anger.
Unfair. Sturgeon was great.
DeleteNarcissistic tendencies seem to be your mantra. I’m sure John Swinney is not worried about your zzzz allegations.
DeleteIf you have even a passing interest or knowledge about the internal politics of Alba, you'll know that Salmond's apparent narcissism has been the cause of a lot of the ructions in the party.
DeleteMany of us joined Alba thinking Salmond was the anti-Sturgeon. Turns out he was just Sturgeon in a man's suit.
One doesn't have to wonder where she got it from when one sees how Salmond leads a party that he sees as his family's personal fiefdom.
And I say family's very deliberately. Because it's not just his. Party transparency and process is cast easily aside to provide his own family members with juicy positions in the party.
And anyone who questions that has the big black dodgy dossier brandished in their face.
James. Hold firm. The truth will come out of the trial. Alba didn't vote with the unionists. They voted in the best interests of Scotland, not the best interests of the morally bankrupt SNP.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact Alba voted with the unionists. And if you are saying they did so thinking people would view their act of treachery otherwise, then you are simply confirming that Alba are actually as stupid and unthinking as their actions suggest. Alba are finished, as it it’s publicity front AUOB. Go join up with Campbells cult and let us get on with trying to salvage something from the wreckage.
DeleteSarcasm at 8.26 đŸ˜†
ReplyDeleteDelusional at. 823
ReplyDeletePretty hilarious.
ReplyDeleteFeels like John Swinney can help bring SNP up in the polls. He is liked and very popular. An exciting time to be an SNP supporter.
ReplyDeleteFor all the PR hype, Swinney's most immediate legacy has been pretty much being acused of lying under oath by the Edinburgh tram enquiry, and before that Swinney being a really bad education secretary, even adversely effecting pupils in an immediate and very real way by being ineffectual. (Before that, I think he was responsible for punting the 'named persons' nonsense). I really am not sure if he has any actual governmental achievements. If there are any, no-one is mentioning them.
ReplyDeleteThis is the guy that told Salmond that a council tax freeze was viable for a year, then rolled-over and irrevocably changed the nature of local government finance in the most dramatic change to council finance in the history of Holyrood, by cutting council tax by the rate of inflation for a decade.
He is a unifier and is very highly regarded by the voters.
DeleteThe only people he could unify are of very little interest to anyone.
DeleteWell we’ll see how highly regarded he is by the voters soon enough at the GE.
DeleteLet’s face it though, the SNP have been truly awful in the last few years and deserve to be heavily punished, both at the GE and Holyrood election.
You know the Edinburgh trams were started off by the labour and co of Edinburgh city council. SNP sorted it out. The new bridge over the Forth got it done… really some on here a scraping the barrel.
ReplyDeleteQuite incredible, after everything that’s happened over the past few years, shambles after shambles, how there are still some who attempt to defend the SNP.
DeleteCos they are still miles better than the tories in England, Labour in wales.
DeleteLOLđŸ¤£đŸ¤£đŸ¤£
DeleteAnon. 9.36. It's deep state stuff. They need de-programmed like Jason Bourne. Sturgeon's one true gift was psychological manipulation.
ReplyDeleteThe sooner our politics gets away from talking about the 'deep state' like we're a bunch of mindless Americans, the better.
DeleteHow has our political discourse degraded to the point where we're in thrall to talking points of Fox News and CNN?
R u 2 guys working out an army camp together. You really know very little.
ReplyDeleteRobin McAlpine:" I believe the biggest barrier to independence is now the SNP". But I suppose like me he knows nothing!
ReplyDeleteWhat's his antidote? Like Stuart Campbell, is it the Tories?
Delete'Vote Conservative and Unionist for an Independent Scotland' is something self-respecting Yes supporters would have laughed at ten years ago.
Now they pay some Tory oaf from Bath their life's savings to tell them how only a Conservative vote will strike a deadly blow to the Union.
Embarrassing that our collective intellects have fallen so far in such a short space of time.
Nope. The polls show it's 50/50. So all to play for. The biggest barrier is having a political party with the will to actually do something. Rather than sit back and wait for the mountain to come to Muhammad.
ReplyDelete“a political party with the will to actually do something “
DeleteLike what? The whole idea of independence is a complete nonsense.
“Hundreds” take part in march for Scottish independence.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!
Aye, you have to wonder if there’s any point in these marches nowadays.
DeleteThe marches are futile, without the will of our parliament or government.
ReplyDeleteLabour must be rubbing their hands with glee at the existence of the Alba party
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Swinney wing have had a total hissy fit about being challenged. They just assumed they could have a stitch up.
ReplyDeleteYou maybe should have waited, Andrew. : ) The positive thing about what McCormick did overnight, however, was that unionist supporting Alba don't enough time to find another Patsy to do their bidding.
DeleteInstead, the unionists supporting and leading the SNP found theirs.
DeleteIt was absolutely a hissy fit. Evidently "words" were had. There was so much outrage that someone dared to challenge the fabled Swinney. Not sure what the relevance of Alba is here? This is an SNP contest.
DeleteMcCormick obviously didn't have the support. A complete time waster!
Deletegood try, but again, no coconut.
ReplyDelete