THE ALBA FILES, Part 2: The extraordinary story of Chris McEleny's wrathful vendetta against Alba's Dundee branch - a guest post by former Alba parliamentary candidate Heather McLean

Note from James Kelly: Welcome back to Scot Goes Pop's new series of articles "THE ALBA FILES" (before anyone panics, it's only a name), in which I am aiming to put as much information as is realistically possible into the public domain, so that Alba members can make up their own minds about how their party has been run over the last couple of years.  For this second installment, I'm delighted to publish a guest post by Heather McLean, a former Alba NEC member and a former Alba parliamentary candidate in the North-East region.  Under Alba's constitution, she should have automatically become Alba's Women's Convener in early 2023 after Yvonne Ridley was forced to resign (but in the 7598th case of the Alba leadership ignoring their own rule-book, Ash Regan was appointed instead).

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This will be the first year since 2012 I haven’t organised a Burns Supper due to resigning from Alba last year. 

When I was first contacted by Alex Salmond to join the party and stand as second to him on the North-East list in 2021 I felt honoured, excited and proud to be part of a new party which would push for Scottish independence, but four years down the line I’m left wondering what happened to all that optimism and enthusiasm, and where it all started to go so badly wrong.

This is an account of my experience and that of some of my friends within the organisation. Things began to unravel in the summer of 2023 leading up to the autumn conference where a new NEC would be chosen and it became clear that certain people for some reason had fallen out of favour and were to be replaced by those that the leadership preferred. 

Presumably people who were owed favours or who would sit quietly at NEC meetings and simply nod through and rubber stamp whatever the leadership decreed. 

First to go was Jacqui Bijster who was accused of currying favour and unfair electioneering simply because as Membership Convenor she sent out a blanket email answering the many enquiries she’d received from members regarding the election process.  

The results of the Convenors elections were set aside at the Glasgow 2023 National conference because apparently the ‘wrong people” won. 

I stood in the election as Women’s Convenor and to this day I do not know the result of that original ballot. It was decided to re-run the convenors election again to be announced at the December National Council and also the NEC ordinary members would be elected during the National Council weekend but by the signed up delegates to the Glasgow 2023 National Conference.

I was elected as ordinary member, and not even 24 hours later I was reported to the Disciplinary Committee for the crime of having "liked"  a tweet by another member who described the incumbent Women’s Convenor as "a shite Women’s Convenor and an Islamist". I was accused by Chris McEleny of racism, given that the dictionary definition of Islamist is - 

"An advocate or supporter of Islamic fundamentalism; a person who advocates increasing the influence of Islamic law in politics and society. A person who believes strongly in Islam, especially one who believes that Islam should influence political systems"

I’m sure that anyone of any race can be an Islamist and that the term itself is actually political and not racist. 

Following a meeting of the Disciplinary Committee I was exonerated, on condition that I unliked the offending tweet. However, I subsequently felt under scrutiny and that my social media was closely monitored by the General Secretary. 

It became apparent to me that Alba has a discriminatory and selective approach to freedom of thought, expression, and the truth, which was not and is still not applied equally.  

At several party meetings, including a Zoom call with the party leader, we had been told that to contest a General Election, a LACU would require a minimum of £5000 in campaigning funds and a campaign team of at least 12 activists.  

When the General Election was announced I applied for vetting as a candidate having stood as a candidate in the Holyrood elections and the council elections for Dundee - the only council where all eight council seats had been contested.  

In previous years I had raised funds for my LACU through various social events and in particular a Dundee Burns Supper which was the source of our main funding.  However, in 2023 I was asked to organise the Alba Party Burns Supper for central party funds and so cancelled the Dundee event, resulting in a shortfall in our anticipated capital needed for any future election campaign. 

As required in the constitution we held our AGM in February, the day before I was leaving for a holiday in Australia. 

It was decided that Dundee would not put up candidates as we didn’t have the necessary £5000 in the kitty, but would concentrate on gathering canvassing data, employ a campaign of “Not My Parliament” and use our activists to campaign for candidates who had a more realistic chance of election like sitting MP, Neale Hanvey over in Fife. 

I arrived in Australia to an email from the General Secretary demanding to know what had happened at the Dundee AGM and who was complicit in the decision taken. 

It was clear that McEleny wanted to know who the culprits were in the decision and expected me to implicate those involved, in particular the role of my friend Eva Comrie, Equalities Convener who oversaw the election of office bearers, and of Allan Petrie and Denise Findlay. 

It seemed to me that he wanted an excuse to reprimand or take punitive action against them. 

I took considerable time out of my holiday to reply in depth about exactly what had transpired, and was not even given the courtesy of a reply until I followed up my email asking Chris McEleny for an acknowledgement. I later learned that Mr McEleny had informed the NEC that I had failed to respond to his email! 

Here follows a transcript of the email I sent to the General Secretary -  

"It’s with great dismay that I’m just catching up with the events unfolding in Dundee. 

My recollection of the AGM which took place just before I left for Melbourne is as follows. Each of the office bearers delivered their reports and I intimated my re election to NEC, that I had campaigned and canvassed in all the by elections with Denise as National Organiser, that I had put myself forward unsuccessfully as Women’s Convenor  and that I had also been vetted by the vetting committee as a potential political candidate. I also indicated that I would be rescheduling the cancelled film event but that would have wait until I returned from Australia at the end of March. 

Each of the office bearers delivered their reports and our Treasurer Ashley gave her report on the financial position regarding our funds. It was agreed that we purchase a pop up gazebo to enable us to have street stalls in the city centre and other locations. 

After the office bearer reports the position was laid out by Allan Petrie, regarding the conditions laid out by Headquarters regarding standing a candidate in each of the Dundee wards. 

The financial position and the HQ requirements for standing a candidate were clearly laid out to the members who attended, a lot of whom are the activists, and they decided that we did not meet the criteria. We have neither the £5000 nor the activist team to cover the city now that the boundaries have almost doubled the constituency nor could we consider the other constituency because it took in Angus LACU and would need agreement from them. 

The decision was therefore made that we were not in any position to stand a candidate.

Given that Dundee would therefore face a choice of SNP Chris Law or a unionist candidate an alternative course of action was put to the meeting by Allan Petrie which was a campaign of spoiling ballot papers under a Not My Parliament slogan. 

The reasoning being that it would encourage people to use their ballot paper who would otherwise stay at home, encourage disenfranchised and disillusioned people to actually make their voice heard and get people on the electoral register for 2026 when the real issue of independence would be decided as articulated by party leader Alex Salmond. 

Denise Findlay asked for assurances that we would undertake to gather the data and voter ID needed for a future Alba Scottish election campaign in 2026. The intention was not to discourage folk from voting but rather that Alba take the moral high ground by refusing to jump on what many Dundonians perceive as the “London Gravy train” and to encourage those people to see Alba as a true independence option in 2026. This assurance was given by everyone at the meeting as we need to increase our potential voter base going forward. 

Allan based his proposal on the responses he and others had been getting from the general public who are disillusioned with politics and political parties of all persuasions in general and now feel disenfranchised and turned off as they feel no one represents them and that the Scottish voice at Westminster continues to be ignored. 

This initiative from Allan took everyone by surprise,  but after a discussion took place during which time Members asked questions,  it was clear that they were in agreement with this argument. It was stressed that we would continue to argue for Alba's voice, and that our voice could only be truly heard in the Scottish Parliament. 

The membership felt that this option was something affordable and within our limited budget and that we could actually get behind it. So that is what was voted for at the meeting.

Once this had been agreed the LACU office bearers were chosen as follows : 

Convenor - Heather McLean 

Secretary - Allan Petrie 

Treasurer  - Ashley Millar 

Organiser - Denise Findlay 

Women’s Officer - Heather McLean (creation of a new post) 

From what I can gather I’m now aware that Allan Petrie has resigned from the party and that Ashley has also since resigned, apparently because someone at headquarters took it upon themselves to report the Alba Dundee Twitter account, as a fake account because Allan Petrie had posted a tweet they objected to. Despite being registered as blind, Ashley has successfully administered the account on behalf of Dundee Alba since 2021 and is understandably upset. 

Surely it would have been less damaging had Ashley been approached directly to delete the tweet rather than take such a drastic step resulting in her resignation. Ashley has apparently resigned in humiliation that her own personal details (email and phone number) are now associated with a blocked account on X. 

I note that your email indicates that the National Organiser is now to oversee the running of Dundee LACU, can I ask if he has been in contact with our LACU organiser Denise Findlay? Surely it would be better to approach and liaise with Denise rather than take such a heavy handed approach? 

From what I can gather the fallout from the meeting might have been handled better, as what has ensued has escalated the situation,  possibly alienating members and in standing a candidate now, against the wishes of the LACU membership couldn’t guarantee support from the activists in the membership.

This is a mess Chris and I am at a loss as to how we row back from it as things seem to be escalating out of control, with what would appear to be a heavy handed approach before I return from Australia at the end of the month. 

So in the meantime I suggest that the only point of contact we have left on the Dundee Exec is our organiser Denise Findlay,  and it would be a good idea for Rob Thomson to get in touch with her and to liaise as to how we move forward."

I found out that our Treasurer Ashley Miller who had ran the social media accounts since the inception of Alba had wrongly been reported to Twitter for impersonation.  There was a tweet Chris had taken exception to, but rather than contact Ashley and ask her to remove the tweet he heavy-handedly reported her to Twitter.  Ashley was embarrassed and had her reputation traduced and she felt she had no alternative other than to resign.  In an act of vicious nastiness McEleny deemed Ashley to be a public resignation, meaning she cannot rejoin Alba without a vote of the NEC.  

The NEC have happily rubber-stamped all the ex-members presented as public resignations by McEleny, whether they publicly announced their resignation or said anything critical of the party.  This is not in accordance with the constitution.  

McEleny did not get in touch with Denise Findlay. I later found out that a secret Zoom meeting was arranged while I was in Australia to which neither Denise nor I were invited, despite being the only remaining office bearers on the committee. The meeting was by invitation only and it was decided that they would override the AGM and hold an extraordinary EGM at which they would revisit the question of Dundee candidates and elect a new committee. So much for party constitution and democracy! 

Denise subsequently tendered her resignation from Alba after being so blatantly snubbed and excluded. 

On my return from Australia I attempted unsuccessfully to find out in the NEC WhatsApp group when the next NEC meeting was to take place and ask for the minutes of the only meeting I’d ever missed to be forwarded to me. 

None were forthcoming and in fact I was removed from the NEC chat group by the administrator.  Again, so much for being a democratically elected member of the NEC, I was effectively excluded from the group chat and the date and details of the meeting kept from me.  

I also received an email from the General Secretary informing me that I had failed vetting, despite having been good enough to stand as a candidate in Scottish Parliament and Council elections. 

Another resignation was Eva Comrie, the Equalities Convenor, who McEleny tried to implicate in the decision of Dundee LACU not to contest the General Election and who I know was put under pressure to appoint a leadership favourite as her Deputy, despite this person never having contributed to the Equalities brief or policy making group. 

The situation became untenable and I no longer felt I wanted to be part of Alba in any capacity so in April I resigned from the party. Here follows the transcript of my resignation. 

"Please consider this email as a formal resignation. I no longer have any respect or faith in the management or values of the Alba Party and I am not prepared to compromise my principles or integrity any longer. 

I have witnessed the targeted bullying, harassment and ostracising of NEC and party members, mainly women and I cannot in all good conscience condone or continue to be a member of a party which displays such contempt or disregard for its members. 

I myself have now come under sustained bullying, harassment and attack from the party leadership. I was duly elected at a quorate fully constituted AGM of Dundee LACU yet following a secret Zoom meeting to which I was neither invited or told about, it was decided that my convenorship would be up for re selection thus unconstitutionally imposing HQ rule on the Dundee LACU. According to the constitution, the position of Women’s Convenor, should have fallen to me when the incumbent resigned, having come second in the ballot but this did not happen and was overruled contrary to due process of the constitution being adhered to. 

On Saturday, I was excluded as a member of NEC from attending the monthly meeting and without warning or consultation I was removed from the NEC WhatsApp group by the party chair. 

I have witnessed the discriminatory and selective approach to freedom of thought, expression and the truth that is not applied equally. 

The unscrupulous misuse and discriminatory manipulation and disregard for the constitution which is applied for expediency and not equally for all concerned. I can give many more egregious examples of intimidating behaviour, unsubstantiated lies and accusations but quite frankly it’s not worth my time or effort. 

I joined Alba because I believe that my country should be independent. I have had a long and successful career in education and am now retired. I did not join Alba as a career move. I left SNP because I believed Alba would be better but disappointingly it has turned out to be much worse. 

I am not in the least surprised at the number of recent resignations given the culture of intimidation which currently exists, mine included. 

Congratulations, you have achieved your aim and prime objective of forcing my resignation as you did with many others, but to what end? 

Please accept this missive as my full and formal resignation from the Alba Party." 

So where does Alba go forward from here? 

With the resignation and departure of McEleny who was a malign influence and law unto himself and the proposed abolition of the General Secretary position within the party, I would hope Alba will take the opportunity to make a fresh start with a new team and leadership at the top of the party and at headquarters.  

I would advise members to question the leadership candidates very carefully as to how they will turn the party into the promised member-led party which adheres to the constitution and to ask what safeguards will be in place to prevent a repeat of the last eighteen months. There is an opportunity to herald in a change for the better with greater democracy where the leadership actually listen to and promote real membership engagement where there’s a genuine will to do so.