Terrifyingly, I've been writing Scot Goes Pop for almost fifteen years (the anniversary is next month) and in that time there have been numerous occasions when I have criticised the SNP leadership for denying party members natural justice by suspending them when they had yet to be found guilty of any wrongdoing. The two worst injustices were the suspension of Michelle Thomson, which prevented her from defending her Westminster seat even though it later turned out she had done nothing wrong, and the suspension of Neale Hanvey, which would have prevented him standing in the 2019 general election if it had come a couple of weeks earlier. As it was, he was deprived of all official SNP support during the election, with the intention - grotesquely - of helping Labour hold the seat. Thankfully, the plan failed and Hanvey became an MP.
The reality is that pre-emptive suspension has got nothing to do with justice or fairness for the individual and everything to do with ruthless protection of the party at any cost. The idea is that the party will be insulated from any damage later on if the person they've suspended turns out to have done what they were suspected or accused of. But if the collective self-interest always trumps individual justice as far as the SNP are concerned, that principle should apply one hundred times over to Peter Murrell, who in the worst case scenario could do more damage to the party than all previous miscreants put together. And yet in this case, miraculously, the SNP find that they do care about natural justice and won't suspend him because he's not yet been found guilty of anything.
Such a blatant inconsistency can only mean one thing - that there is, after all, something more important than the interests of the party, namely the interests of the party's ruling faction. Which of course shouldn't be a surprise, because exactly the same imperative drove the seemingly irrational and self-destructive decision to install the unpopular Humza Yousaf as leader.
Humza is like a racing driver who says "we mustn't lose our focus on winning the race!" even though he's dismantled his racing car and booked a long weekend in Tuscany for the day of the race.
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) April 11, 2023
The sequel to the "what have the Romans ever done for us?" joke:
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) April 11, 2023
"OK, *apart from* the membership numbers, the auditors resigning six months ago, and the arrest of Peter Murrell, what *is* this important information that SNP members supposedly didn't have when they voted?"
James, with your knowledge of politics across the the UK and down the years do you think this is the most corrupt leadership election ever undertaken by a political party that is in government?
ReplyDeleteIt's obviously extremely bad, but I think the 1999 Welsh Labour leadership election and the selection of Labour candidate for London mayor in 2000 were even worse, because in those cases it wasn't just that there was no level playing field - the results were blatantly rigged.
DeleteI'd also point to Richard Leonard being deposed. While he often missed the mark, Richard Leonard was and is an honourable man.
DeleteSo just a bronze medal for the SNP in the dodgy leadership election stakes but Labour pick up the gold and silver medals.
DeleteInteresting to read the comments above on Richard Leonard. I had always thought he was involved in fighting against equal pay for women working for Glasgow City Council under Labour. I'm glad to be corrected and discover he is honourable.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can ascertain, the sticking point in the negotiations in the equal pay for women saga was the legal fees that would have become payable.
DeleteAgain I could be wrong but the fees involved, when Nicola's decree was actioned, ran into tens of millions and each of the women were forced to sign a non disclosure form before payment was eventually made.
I would imagine there would have been a few disgruntled folk unhappy re the deductions made
He's not honourable, you were right.
DeleteThe SNP is in financial difficulty... of course, Sturgeon inherited a huge SNP ready and willing to fight for its country's indepensence. Mz S. diffused, deflected and derailed that party from its goal. The Trans-EU-covid express seems to have been moving too fast for indy to catch a ride. Salmond should never have resigned - stupid decision.
ReplyDeleteSo the SNP are now saying the motor home was purchased for campaigning. A luxury two seater 'battle bus'. 😂😂😂😂😂 As I said previously only numpties would believe Sturgeon resigned because she was a bit tired. Now I am saying only numpties would believe this nonsense about the motor home. You can find many of them every day btl on WGD.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be no end in sight to the lies and deceit from the SNP. Meanwhile the architect of this SNP mess, Sturgeon, is taking her driving lessons minus her wedding ring.
Years ago on SGP I posted a wee skit highlighting the inappropriateness of a married couple holding the top two positions in the SNP - Sturgeon carrying out an annual performance appraisal for Murrrel over breakfast - so did Sturgeon know the SNP had not managed to get new auditors or will she claim again - 'I don't recall'.
8 years of the ' glorious leaders' leadership have created an SNP totally unrecognisable from the party Salmond handed over to her. Yet still numpties worship her. What is wrong with these people. Oh that's right they are like Trump supporters.
Given that I refuse to give WGD the satisfaction of darkening his web portal, what’s he saying these days. Are the Tories still bad?
DeleteAnd right on cue the WGD Sturgeon propagandist liar Skier punts the 'battle bus' story for the WGD numpties to lap up. Well he is only doing what he has previously said he does which is lying if he thinks it helps the SNP. Of course anyone can now see where lying and 'Wheest for Indy' takes you.
DeleteIt's OK though because over on WGD, notorious troll Handandshrimp says that it doesn't matter if the motor home was purchased with some of the £600k "ring fenced " Indyref fund because it shows that the money isn't missing.
DeleteWhat about the £500k that's unaccounted for? And does a motor home really qualify as referendum campaigning?
The level of delusion is unbelievable.
My first thought when trying to win independence for a small country is always to spend one-tenth of a million pounds on a new caravan.
DeleteRichard Leonard, so honourable that as union leader he supported the blocking of equal pay for women which later cost Glasgow Council millions.
ReplyDeletePlease see my reply to Worrier
DeleteLeonard like most Labour, Tory and Lib-Den politicians cares not for the Scottish people, honour is an alien word to them.
DeleteAnother day another revelation. SNP starting to make the Tories look good.
ReplyDeleteThe SNP have a long way to go before they get as bad as Labour or LibDems never mind the Tories. Not that Sturgeons coterie can be excused by that.
DeleteVote Alba.
ReplyDeleteWhy? I'm not trying to be combative, but convince me.
DeleteBut don't tell me its because of Salmond - he was at one point more upopular in polls than Boris Johnson (and in a straw poll among friends he still is not popular).
Don't tell me its because Alba have two MPs because they were voted in under an SNP ticket (to be clear, I donated to Neil's campaign when he was suspended) - would they win again as Alba candidates?
I agree they have made some impact at WM, but will that advance the cause of Indy?
Yes I'm an SNP member, Yes I'm impatient and very disappointed that not more progress has been made by SNP on Indy, so I might well be a prime target for moving over to Alba.
I look forward to a reasoned and respectful debate.
Eck needs to stand as the Alba candidate in the coming Rutherglen by-election. Now’s the time.
DeleteHello Alan, there's a couple of things that I think have to be cleared up with regard to Alba versus SNP first is Salmond. The public view of Salmond now is that he is toxic, but you should ask yourself 'why is this?' Is it because of the court case? Is it because of rumour? Is it because of the narrative that the press and the SNP have been spreading about him?
DeleteThese are not answers I can give you - they are for you to think about. So, why Alba? You agree that their two MPs "have made some impact at WM..." well, that's more than Blackford did and many of his band - in my opinion. A lot of the SNP's contribution at WM was nothing but bluster and posturing, there was nothing of any consequence. With the three worst PM's in history the SNP could not think of a way to further the cause of independence. They even closed down Martin Keatings's attempt to test the Section 30 position then did it themselves later. If nothing else you must be able to see that the SNP have performed as badly as the feeble fifty. The only difference is that they lied to us at every turn suggesting that independence was just around the corner. Sturgeon would never allow talk of a plan B - she didn't have any plan, tactically she was shallow and in political strategy out of her depth. So, Alba have nothing much to offer except an alternative. That's about it. They might not have a high percentage in polls but that only changes when people like us change to them. Okay, Salmond might be toxic, but tactically and strategically he is one of the best. Think - why is it that an innocent man is still vilified in the media including the independence supporting media? Sorry that I can't engage better on this but the platform doesn't really allow for that sort of debate.
Alan, obviously I have no idea if you have read my response but can I just add if you wish to debate this - and I am willing - then follow up with a QA and I will do my best to engage. Lets move forward to independence - all of us, left right centre and crazy. No one's nationalism is better than any one else's. It's freedom for all of us tory, labour, liberal, all of us.
DeleteYousaf makes Ruddick temp Chief Exec and that in my mind condemns him as part of the gang that persecuted Salmond. Everyone saw the leaked messages from Murrell to Ruddick instructing her to sort out Salmond.
ReplyDeleteRuddick should be getting suspended not promoted. Yousaf is worse than anyone could imagine. He prattled on about poverty but is happy to waste money on a GRR court case to keep the bampot greens happy.
The SNP now stands for cronyism, nepotism, wasting public money and corruption. No wonder people are leaving in droves - even WGD numpties like Capella and Dr Jim say they have resigned. As people are leaving in droves WGD numpty Eilidh decides to join the SNP in a that'll show them moment and then asks someone to explain what the SNP NEC is. I guess even WGD btl has its own village idiot. Yep someone a bigger idiot than Hamish.
Independence for Scotland = closet unionist.
DeleteAnonymous = a WGD numpty. The only question is whether this numpty is the WGD btl village idiot or a standard numpty that believes all the shit the SNP and the charlatan big dug pump out.
DeleteIs there any truth in the rumour that Yousaf's first bill will be to allow motorhomes and camper vans to self ID as campaign battle buses and anyone denying this right will be condemned as a transbusphobe. But seemingly Buster bus is outraged at the thought as it tramples all over the rights of real buses. Alister Jack threatens to section 35 the bill. Shirley Sad-Ass says we will fight for the rights of trans busses in court if necessary.
ReplyDeleteWhitford SNP MP on Scotland Tonight promoting the case for the legal action about GRR. The SNP seem to forget that if they had delivered what they are supposed to do - Scottish independence - then this becomes irrelevant as there will be no Sect 35.
ReplyDeleteAs suspected this GRR waste of money is all we will hear about for the next two years as independence is kicked in to the long grass.
The SNP/WGD numpties have to own the 8 wasted Sturgeon years and now the disastrous Yousaf era. No excuses you were warned.
I'm not in favour of the GRR as it is but it did command the overwhelming support of parliament and it was shown to be competent within HR's remit. On that basis Humza Yousaf is right to contest the UK govt's position as he's defending Holyrood's right to legislate.
DeleteAs I've said here before, the strategy should be:
1. A vote at Holyrood to go forward with opposing the UK govt. Ties in Scottish Labour or forces them to account for supporting the Bill but not Holyrood. This is now difficult in retrospect as HR is in recess and the letter has went in.
2. Say that the GRR will be subject to amendments and that these amendments will be after a citizen's jury has reviewed the legislation for 6mo. The Greens would howl, but Labour and the SNP would probably be happy to kick it into the rough. It's also fairly radical for the UK as we've never used citizen's juries before. Ireland used them for the abortion debate so no reason why it wouldn't work here.
3. Amend the bill in line with the jury's recommendations. Hard for Labour to oppose and if the UK Govt continues to oppose then they'd be going explicitly against the will of the Scottish People.
The jury would be 100 eligible voters balanced by sex, class and age.
My view is that the SNP should've done this in the first place.
Jacob72 - in the previous Scottish Parliament the Parliament voted twice to hold an independence referendum. Did Westmister strike this down - no. Did the Scottish gov/SNP do anything - no. So sorry this stuff about defending a devolved parliament that contains the right of Westminster to override its laws when it wants is a distraction from getting independence. It's a devolved parliament. It's status will ALWAYS be secondary to Westminster. It's a distraction to give the SNP troops something to moan about rather than thinking what happened to the promised referendum.
DeleteEven if the legal case is won Westminster can pass a new law to override it. It's independence we need not phoney battles. Phoney battles from a phoney party of independence. So your strategy is sound enough but that is not what this is about. It's about phoney battles as a distraction from how awful the SNP is.
I get your point - I think that there's a large "look a squirrel!" aspect to the counter-challenge too. However IMV the citizen's jury aspect is worthwhile to defuse the issue a bit.
DeleteJacob72 - as I said above your strategy is sound and I think if Forbes had won she may have done something along these lines.
DeletePersonally, I agree with WGD numpty 'Jumpin' Jack Collatin who posted he is absolutely sick of GRR. So the rare thing, I agree with a WGD numpty, I am sick of the GRR.
I don't know if you remember but Sturgeon made a big song and dance about Citizens assemblies in the past but it fizzled out. Just more distractions/carrots as far as she was concerned. Personally, I think they should be used, but Sturgeon would never have given any such control to ordinary citizens as she is a control freak.
Maybe SNP politicians and party high-heid yins will only start fighting for Scotland's independence if they see their cushy jobs and pensions are at risk?
ReplyDeleteWGD nasty numpty Dr Jim lying again when he claims the missing ring fenced Indyref2 money is just SNP member's money. Jimbo knows fine well that the fund was open for any independence supporters to donate but he blatantly lies about it to try and minimise the issue.
ReplyDeleteJimbo says:- " Remember folks this is not taxpayers money, it's not the countries finances, not one penny belongs to anyone except the members of the SNP,....."
No wonder these numpties could easily accept Sturgeon's gang plotting to send Salmond to jail on false charges. They have absolutely no decency at all.
Terry Callachan Dundee here , I agree with you independence for Scotland , furthermore I would say WGD is a good writer but it’s all blinkered , mind you if you write for a newspaper and get paid for it you might have an interest in matters that differ from ours , we the people prioritise Scottish independence above all else and I do not understand the folly of how anyone can make excuses for SNP money being spent on a luxury motor home , nobody will believe whatever excuses they come up with if this is truly what happened and why was it in their drive ? if it belongs to SNP , ludicrous .I have joined ALBA I am with Alex Salmond , I am about to rejoin SNP but only because I want to attend the next annual conference so I can add my vote if possible , to make the changes required to get SNP power back to the NEC committees and the people.
DeleteTerry, you and I have the following in common:- we want independence, we have no personal financial interest in the matter and we expected the SNP to honour its mission statement. Unfortunately, that has proved not to be the case for various leaders of Scottish independence/SNP.
DeleteWGD may well be able to write some nice paragraphs but he has sold out to further his income stream. I know for a fact that he knew what Sturgeon was doing re the persecution of Salmond and who the alphabetties are but chose to join the Sturgeon/The National camp to maintain his income stream by telling his readers lies about Salmond and how Sturgeon would definitely deliver Indyref2. The big dug is a charlatan just like Sturgeon.
With regards to the SNP NEC it is undisputed that it was a sneaky
lunchtime fix by Angus Robertson to get total control of the party at a conference. It is worth noting that Robertson has been a friend of Peter Murrell since their university days. Now you know why Robertson didn't stand for leader - he knew the polis thing was coming down the line. Terry, the SNP has been captured by a cabal whose aims do not align with ours. At the heart of the cabal is Peter Murrell and Angus Robertson and their wives.
From terry callachan Dundee, thank you Independence for Scotland , I am with you I agree with your comments, I will be at AUOB 6 th May because it is a March for Scottish independence , all these people who say they will not March for independence because of GRR or because of Greens or because of ALBA or because of SNP or because of Murrell or NS or AS bla bla bla are NOT giving priority to Scottish independence they are giving priority to their personal prejudices , their stars will never align to give them all they want, that’s life , when will they learn.
DeleteAww James you write the best article 🥰
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteTo distract themselves from the painful fact that Sturgeon has made fools out of the lot of them the WGD numpties are getting all worked up about the AUOB Glasgow march on May 6th. You know the one that Yousaf as first activist (😂😂😂😂) said he would attend but is choosing to grovel before Charlie boy instead. It didn't take Yousaf long to break a promise.
It seems the numpties don't care for the speakers at the event. The speakers the numpties like eg the greens, chose, like the silly infants they are, not to attend.
So Hamish100 says:- " I choose not to march to listen to that shower." Hamish highlighting once again how silly he is. You can go to the march Hamish but it is not mandatory to listen to any speakers. I suspect Hamish has NEVER been to a march.
The king of the snidey one liner Alec Lomax says:-
" AUOB = the eck fan club." and
" Alba under one brolly."
Lomax a classic WGD numpty who seems incapable of putting forward any coherent thoughts. Clearly anything more than a couple of lines of text is way beyond Lomax's intellect. I mean what sort of fool do you have to be to not even recognise when you have been made a fool of.
Question for the numpties:
Do you think Sturgeon knew nothing about the SNP having no auditors?
If SNP/WGD numpties are staying away I may well continue my run of attending the Glasgow marches.
In addition Hamish and Lomax and the others must have missed the bit in The National article where it states that there is not a single Alba party member on the AUOB but there is an SNP member. Also Kate Forbes is speaking at the march - strange Hamish hates the speakers as it wasn't that long ago he said he voted for Forbes in the leadership election. Strange people these WGD numpties. Do they ever make sense?
DeleteThe bampot Greens MSP Maggie Chapman insists that the double rapist be called a woman. This is the fellow traveller of Yousaf's SNP and all the WGD numpties who support the bampot disgusting greens. Nice friends you guys have - more than happy she ain't coming to the Glasgow AUOB. Chapman mixes with some ugly people and believes sex is not binary but never says how many sexes there are in her opinion. Question to the WGD numpties - how many sexes are there? Like WGD numpty Jack Collatin I am sick of this GRR crap.
ReplyDeleteThe luxury motor home is just the tip of the iceberg in relation to what the SNP have become.
ReplyDeleteFor a party to shell out something like £110,000 on a luxury motor home that can only accomdate four people maximum and for that vehicle to be in the possession and or control of the CEO with it stored at the CEOs mothers house is most unusual.
Even more unusual is the unreported personal loan said to have been made by the CEO to the party for a sum around the price of one of these luxury motor homes.
But Humza says the motor home is owned by the party.
Where a car or a motor home is provided to an employee for their use the benefit in kind is usually notified to the HMRC and the Employee pays tax on the benefit. Did this happen here.
The whole thing stinks as I say. But such things can happen when no one has access to the financial records.
Maybe the truth of this will emerge but as I say the stink is indicative of so much more that has been going on - mis-stated membership, rigged leader election, missing money initially available, then woven through the accounts, then gone, a rigged NEC, rigged candidate selection. misuse of party IT data, the list goes on.
Genuine question so please don’t flame if the answer’s obvious. Why are the Greens not going to AUOB?
ReplyDeleteBecause people the Greens call transphobes eg Regan and Forbes are speakers at the event. Strange how Forbes and Regan being in government didn't stop them joining the government and taking up their ministerial posts.
DeleteI guess this shows the Greens literally prioritise Trans issues above independence. Hopefully Indy voters will bear this in mind when voting at the next Holyrood elections.
Delete