If you're in the Corri Nostra, it's not only forbidden for you to lose, it's literally impossible for you to lose. The final nail in the coffin for the Alba Party, as Chris Cullen, having been rejected TWICE by party members in elections to the NEC, simply appoints himself to the NEC anyway. A nice set-up if you can wangle it.

Last night, the "Alba Founders" Twitter account claimed that Chris Cullen, despite having been soundly defeated in the election for Alba's Local Government Convener, and soundly defeated in the election for Ordinary NEC members, had then simply been appointed to the NEC anyway due to a convenient change in the party constitution giving an automatic spot to a local councillor.  

I've asked around, and although everyone I spoke to thought the story had the ring of truth to it, nobody could give me definite confirmation.  But then I tried a different tack.  I checked the full text of the constitutional revision that was presented to the Alba conference as a fait accompli, and sure enough, buried in there is a short, newly added sentence giving an unelected place on the NEC to not just one but TWO local councillors.  Rather cosily, Alba has precisely two councillors at present and one of them is Chris Cullen.  So his appointment is automatic.

It gets even better, of course, because as long-term readers of the blog know, the constitutional revision was authored by the eight-member Constitutional Review Group, of which Chris Cullen was a member, and his immature fiancée Shannon Donoghue was another member (but the latter was only there on a 'lucky loser' basis after one of the elected members of the group resigned in protest at repeated breaches of the existing constitution).  I was also an elected member of the group until last September - but I ceased to be a member for one reason only, namely that Chris Cullen, his fiancée Shannon Donoghue and others jointly submitted a spurious complaint about me (more specifically about this entirely innocuous blogpost), which ultimately led to my outright expulsion from the party by a kangaroo court.  As far as I know, I was never replaced on the group, which meant that Chris Cullen and his fiancée Shannon Donoghue (who also just happens to be the daughter of Corri Wilson, the party's new General Secretary) had successfully contrived to make themselves a full two-sevenths of the Constitution Review Group, which then went on to write a provision into the constitution making Cullen himself an automatic appointment to the NEC until May 2027 - when, barring miracles, he will lose his seat on South Ayrshire Council.

Cullen then proceeded last month with the pantomime of standing in no fewer than two sets of elections for positions on the NEC, knowing full well that he had already ensured he was going to be on the NEC regardless of whether he won or lost - but of course he didn't bother mentioning that little detail to the people he was asking for votes from.  "No matter how you vote, you'll get me anyway!" is never the most promising of election slogans.

I mean, there's cynicism, and there's nepotism, but there's only one word strong enough for this latest stunt from Cullen, Donoghue and the wider Corri Nostra - and that word is corruption.

To recap, the following is what Cullen and Donoghue made sure was NOT in the constitutional revision after my expulsion:

* One member one vote for NEC elections

* Direct elections for the all-powerful Conference Committee

* Direct elections for the Disciplinary and Appeals Committees

* The removal of the leadership's right to directly appoint top-up members of the Conference and Disciplinary Committees

* Direct elections for the Party Chair, currently an appointed role

* The introduction of either a Policy Development Committee or a Policy Development Convener, to put an end to the ad hoc, back-of-an-envelope approach to Alba policy formation

And the following is what Cullen and Donoghue ensured DID make it into the constitutional revision after my expulsion:

* That Cullen should have an automatic place on the NEC regardless of whether he wins or loses elections to the NEC.

You've gotta admire the Corri Nostra's sense of priorities.

Angry James’ skewed version of events in his many blogs are entertaining for some, but there’s less fiction in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland https://t.co/dS2Wum5EV8

— Chris Cullen (@chris_cullen83) March 31, 2025

This of course has been the Alba leadership's go-to tactic in response to any of the details I've revealed in my blogposts - ie. make very vague and generalised claims that I'm either lying or exaggerating, but without giving any specifics at all about what they're alleging the inaccuracies to be or what they're claiming the truth is instead.  Which is hardly surprising, because on the rare occasions they've been drawn into discussing specifics, they've ended up looking more than a little tongue-tied.  For example, when Alba HQ's Robert Reid claimed it was ludicrous to suggest that the "ordinary Alba members" who had expelled me were involved in some kind of leadership-directed stitch-up, all I had to do was ask him "Robert, is it true that precisely four members of the Disciplinary Committee voted to expel me, and of those four, three-quarters were either directly appointed by the leadership or are your own girlfriend or your own mum?". And he kind of went "er, um, well, erm, could we talk about the Appeals Committee instead?"

But in all seriousness I do take exception to Cullen's tweet, because in accusing me of writing fiction he's quote-tweeted his fiancée making a string of allegations against me that are a work of fiction from beginning to end.  I've already corrected most of Donoghue's lies, ie. she's interacted with me on more than two occasions, I did not scour through months of her Instagram posts (too grim a task even for me, Shannon), the parody comments using her name were not written by me, and I did not pre-approve the publication of those comments because pre-moderation on this blog is almost always switched off.  But one lie I haven't yet corrected is her claim that I have "made reference to her looks".  From the start I was 99% sure that was untrue, but I didn't want to directly accuse Shannon of lying about it until I was 100% sure.  And now I am.  I've checked thoroughly, and I've also asked several people whether they can ever remember me commenting on Shannon's looks, even in a throwaway remark, and the answer is a resounding no.  It never happened.  Shannon has lied.  And unlike the other lies, she doesn't have the alibi of being able to say she was misinformed by others.  She lied knowingly and deliberately, and her motivation for doing so was profoundly cynical.  It wasn't a fiction Lewis Carroll would have been proud of, but it was a fiction just the same.

Incidentally, just to dot the remaining 'i's and cross the remaining 't's, it'll be no surprise to anyone to hear that Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh was quietly reappointed Party Chair on Saturday, and will therefore remain Alba's unelected Tyrant-Queen for yet another year.  That's ultimately what most of the bullying and the purges and the lies and the stitch-ups and the double-dealing has been in aid of.  I hope you think it was all worth it, Tas, because I can promise you that hardly anyone else will.