Now, for the avoidance of doubt, this is a self-selecting poll, so no-one is suggesting that the results are scientifically reliable. But at the very least, it does suggest that significant numbers of SNP members agree with the need for the vote to be re-run. The SNP broke their own rules with a breakneck timetable which ensured that most votes were cast (and could not be changed) by the time the fibs about the membership numbers were exposed, and all votes were cast by the time Peter Murrell was arrested.
"We're in the middle of a global pandemic, so we can't do much about independence right now. Be realistic."
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) April 8, 2023
"We've been secretly screwing over our members for years, so we can't do much about independence right now. Be realistic."
Some excuses inspire more sympathy than others.
Members? It’ll be the MSPs who will oust him when the trough runs dry.
ReplyDeleteThe SNP seems determined to go down like the Titanic - this farce is a Sturgeon fk up, as was the Salmond witch hunt. Rather sad that generations of progress towards indy is so much foundering flotsam and jetsom washing impotently ashore. The Brits are enjoying this with a glint of impending victory in their eye. Fkn pathetic - a strong SNP message, policy platform, confidently delivered bya charismatic voiceis the solution... but can the SNP deliver that ?
ReplyDeleteThe “once in a generation” referendum timetable is now looking a bit optimistic.
DeleteMore Hindenburg than Titanic
DeleteOne in a generation looking optimistic: only funny because it’s true.
DeleteI’m not sad, I’m mad: because we’ve been had.
My sea-faring metaphor excluded the crash and burn we're witnessing. In truth, any other political party would fall ro 30% in polls but the loyal indy vote gives an unrealistic high % for the SNP as people remain indy-loyal but will be demotivated and won't make the effort to vote SNP... unless the SNP can get an attractive policy platform clearly articulated by a convincing leader. Humza could do it but Sturgeon has left him a fractured, unhappy SNP.
Deletevery true, they seem oblivious, or mentally incapable it's strange to watch, i don't know if there delusional or complicit? can another election be forced before it's to late??.
DeleteThe SNP circus goes on and on, what a shower !!!
ReplyDeleteHi James, do you have a link (or handy summary) of the rules and timings for how the SNP leadership election should have been run please?
ReplyDeleteBBC Reporting Scotland say they asked Yousaf why Peter Murrell is not suspended from the SNP. The BBC says Yousaf simply replied innocent until proven guilty. The SNP just make up their rules as they go along defending on who it is. There have been plenty people suspended by the SNP like Michelle Thomson who was suspended for years but the police never even spoke to her and said they were never investigating her. Double standards continuing under the continuity FM.
ReplyDeleteExactly. No special favour for Salmond who was brought up on paper thin bogus charges, yet the Murrels enjoy a libertine membership. This is occult corruption - the light of day will be shone on it eventually.
DeleteThe BBC could have also asked Yousaf why Sturgeon is not suspended. They could have asked why the Treasurer is not suspended. They could have asked why other main players like Sue Ruddick, Chief Operating Officer and Iain McCann Compliance Officer are not suspended. The SNP is a complete joke.
DeleteUp until an hour ago, I disagreed with this article, but I now think that the revelations that the auditors quit 6mo ago and Humza Yousaf only found out about it once he was elected leader means that the election should be re-run.
ReplyDeleteIn my view this new information is material as it demonstrates just how *badly* the party was being run.
Ash Regan or Kate Forbes should come out publicly and ask for clear answers to the following questions:
1. Did the party's audit committee know that the auditors had quit 6mo ago?
2. Did the National Treasurer know that they had quit 6mo ago?
3. Was the NEC informed of this situation?
4. Assuming the NEC wasn't, and I think that we can take it for read that they werent otherwise it would have leaked, who took the decision *not* to inform the NEC?
5. Was anyone involved in suppressing the information that the auditors had quit involved in setting the rules of the leadership election? If Y then this seems like good grounds for challenging for a re-run.
I think that Humza Yousaf needs to publish some sort of a brief on the reasons that the auditors gave for quitting. At the very least he needs to meet with them and form his own perspective in their reasons.
In all seriousness, if I was a member of the SNP (I'm not), I'd be looking to start legal action against the NEC members - all of them. They've failed singly and collectively to manage the party in the way that they are supposed to.
This afternoon I think that there is a real possibility that the SNP will collapse financially. If that comes to pass then only two people are responsible for that. It would all be on their heads, aided by sycophants and toadies.
Jacob72 - A very good post but I suggest that taking Yousaf at his word that he did not know about the auditors is risky. Yousaf is trying to move from the self confessed continuity candidate to the new leader who was kept in the dark about all the problems and wrongdoings. But I agree that his statement does help the case for a rerun of the election.
DeleteHumza (I knew nothing) Yousaf.
All those questions plus were they informed, and if so: when?
DeleteThey will wiggle out of anything they can find
Jacob72 you raise a very interesting point that I have not considered before in this situation and perhaps James or IFS can answer it: if the SNP or another political party does collapse financially, what happens? Is it like a limited company and can rebirth through a new entity? Does it have implications for the status in parliament as the 'group' element disappears and so like the LIBDEMS they ar no longer a party and thus are a series of independents? Can they still govern? And, could this allow, in the long term, for a better future, a rebirth of one or two parties from the members in the parliament?
ReplyDeleteNo, it wouldn't have any implications for the parliamentary group, which is technically just a free association of individual MSPs.
DeleteThank you James for such a quick reply - appreciated.
ReplyDelete