Alba's latest shambles descends into farce as Josh Robertson directly contradicts the "vote SNP in the constituencies" strategy set out by his party leader Kenny MacAskill only NINE DAYS AGO

On Monday, I blogged about the extraordinary confusion that had been thrown up by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh's angry denial that Alba will be asking people to vote SNP in the constituencies and Alba on the list in next year's Holyrood election.  That appeared to directly contradict Kenny MacAskill's repeated statements that Alba would be reverting to Alex Salmond's 2021 strategy, which was indeed to advise people to vote "SNP constituency, Alba list".  I wondered if perhaps we hadn't been given the whole picture, and whether this time Alba would be combining a list-only strategy with a destructive recommendation for a unionist/Reform vote in the constituencies, the latter of which is precisely what Alba's foul-mouthed spiritual godfather Stew Campbell is very unsubtly angling for at present.  

However, a couple of people later pointed out to me that Kenny MacAskill had already addressed that point in an article for The National published on 21st April, just nine days ago - 

"Ahead of the election, Alba will be building on the strategy our founder bequeathed us and which our conference overwhelmingly approved – contesting the list only while advising people to vote for other independence-supporting parties in the constituency. That will almost invariably be the SNP."

So that's extremely clear.  It's a slight adjustment from the 2021 strategy which called without caveat for an SNP constituency vote, and doubtless the Salmond Purists will be furious with MacAskill for mucking around with perfection by tinkering in even the smallest way with a tactic devised by an infallible strategic genius.  Nevertheless, it's a distinction without a difference, because as MacAskill himself spells out, Alba will be recommending an SNP constituency vote in almost all cases.  And for the avoidance of doubt, that would be a very sensible thing for them to do.

But, alas, the story doesn't end there, because John Cowie later challenged Josh Robertson (known to Alba members as "JoshBot 6000" for his boundless willingness to follow even the most squalid and morally dubious orders from the party leadership, and to do so in a soul-crushing monotone voice) on why Alba were reverting to urging an SNP constituency vote.  Extraordinarily, Josh followed Ahmed-Sheikh's example by flatly denying that Alba are doing that.

I’m not asking you to vote SNP. I’m asking you to vote for independence on your constituency and regional ballot.

— josh robertson (@JR4Indy) April 21, 2025

Mr Cowie then sent Josh the link to the article in which MacAskill says Alba will be "invariably" advising an SNP constituency vote, and Josh simply didn't reply, which is logical enough because any well-programmed bot (especially of the 6000 series) will temporarily shut down if it's given contradictory orders, and if there is no prime directive about which one should be given priority.  

With the best will in the world, and leaving aside metaphysical questions about what "voting for independence on the constituency and regional ballot" is actually supposed to mean, there is simply no way of reconciling MacAskill's statement that Alba will be "almost invariably" advising a vote for the SNP in the constituencies, and Josh's statement that "I'm not asking you to vote SNP".  They are directly contradictory.  So what on earth is going on here?  Without having an inside source it's impossible to be sure, but my instinct is that Ahmed-Sheikh's anger issues are rearing their ugly head yet again.  She may well have flown off the handle when she saw how explicit MacAskill had been about the strategy in his article, and is perhaps now demanding that the strategy should be "re-framed" or "reimagined" for public consumption.

But whatever the explanation, we plainly do need some clarity about what the strategy actually is, as of this week.  Perhaps Slanszh Media could set aside a slot in the next episode of their little-watched YouTube show Tas Is Talking to put the matter beyond dispute.  And if it turns out that the definitive strategy falls somewhat short of what MacAskill announced in The National, it will essentially confirm what so many people have pointed out - that while MacAskill may nominally 'lead' the Alba party, Ahmed-Sheikh is the party's owner.