Chris McEleny: "Alba is a broad church with the raison d'être of restoring independence for Scotland so it needs the support of all of Scotland & has to appeal to all of Scotland.
— Christopher McEleny (@ChrisMcEleny) April 10, 2025
That means voices of the left, a pro business offering & a tent big enough for all."https://t.co/ysmV8o7eRV
That's a fine-sounding sentiment from Chris McEleny, variously known to Alba members as "Disgruntled Employee", "Conduct Christopher", "Mad Dog McEleny" and "That's Mad Dog PRIMUS To You", but it's not really consistent with the industrial-scale purges he carried out during his tenure as Alba's General Secretary, which only ended with his sacking three months ago. If he's now abandoned his previous mission to make Alba a narrow, paranoid, authoritarian sect, and has instead embraced the wisdom of big-tent inclusivity, his Damascene conversion may have come just a bit too late. But cynics may also wonder if since his sacking he's in fact been saying a great many things he doesn't actually believe, as he tries to reinvent himself in preparation for whatever the post-Alba vehicle for his ongoing political ambitions turns out to be.
His tweet is in response to negative media commentary about Tommy Sheridan's election to the Alba NEC. Some have wondered if Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh might in some way have quietly encouraged that negativity. That's purely speculative, but to my mind there's an ongoing mystery about Tommy's limited involvement in Alba's internal politics until now. Before McEleny got me expelled, I stood for the Alba NEC in three consecutive years, and on two of those occasions Tommy was initially listed as one of the candidates - but was mysteriously missing from the list when the ballot actually took place. He was also strongly rumoured to be standing for Alba in the 2022 local elections, but again that mysteriously came to nothing. I've asked around a few times to try to find out why his name always seemed to be removed, but nobody knows for sure.
Tommy has been going through some tough times in recent years, so it's possible he just decided to withdraw for personal reasons. But given that we now know from Craig Murray and others that Alex Salmond had a habit of manipulating Alba internal elections by making phone calls and pressurising candidates to withdraw, it's at least plausible he did the same thing to Tommy, and indeed that he did so at the behest of Tasmina - who started her political career as a Tory candidate and who still holds right-of-centre views that are light-years away from what Tommy stands for.
If this theory is correct, it begs the question: has the Tas Tyranny been weakened just enough that she wasn't able to block Tommy's candidacy this time? And if so, is she now continuing her war against him by alternative means? This could be a major faultline that's worth keeping an eye on.
I don't know if I'm the only person who does this, but when an election takes place in a foreign country, I often look up the parties involved on Wikipedia and decide who I want to do well by seeing how left-wing they are described as being in the "political position" box. I was slightly bemused after my expulsion to see that Alba's political position is listed on Wikipedia as "centre-left to centre-right". I'm not sure how on earth I ever ended up in a party that could possibly have the "centre-right" label attached to it. I certainly would never have joined Alba in the first place if I had thought it was going to be anything other than a social democratic party in the mould of the Salmond-era SNP.
But it's hard to deny that Alba has mutated into something different since 2021. Partly that's due to the prominence of Tasmina and her Tory views, partly it's due to McEleny and Ash Regan pushing for Reform-style right-wing populism on certain issues, and of course it's partly due to Shannon Donoghue's notorious decision to take part in a far-right podcast. Tommy Sheridan is certainly needed to balance things up just a touch.
But if you were to believe Denise Findley etc Chris had a gun held against his head, was just following orders, had others send emails on his behalf and perhaps the most amusing assertion allegedly fought to keep you in the Party James!
ReplyDeleteWell, I think there's a bit of Chinese whispers involved in all this. Hamish Vernal nominally fronted the initial complaint against me, but the real instigators were almost certainly the Corri Nostra (ie. Shannon Donoghue, Chris Cullen and possibly Corri Wilson herself). The rules then required McEleny to either immediately dismiss the complaint or immediately refer it to the Disciplinary Committee. He did neither of those things and instead sat on the complaint for five months, during which time I was kept completely in the dark about the fact that it even existed. He then seems to have devised some sort of wheeze of referring me to the Disciplinary Committee and in the meantime removing me from my elected position on the Constitution Review Group as a sop to Donoghue and Cullen - something he and the NEC quite simply had no power to do under the constitution as it stood. If those unconstitutional actions were supposed to be him "fighting to keep me in the party" and if I'm supposed to somehow be grateful for that, well...that's an 'interesting' point of view but it's not one that I share.
Delete5 names there that nobody in the real world has ever heard of!
DeleteSo you're saying nobody remembers Corri Wilson's two years as an Ayrshire MP? They remember her nepotistic choice of employees, surely...
DeleteWe remember those two years. They were the best years of our livings. Our seasons in the sun. And as a matter of date we know all five names on the list and many more besides. One of our favorite names is Gladys Tarvie but she wasn't mentioned in this context.
DeleteChris ignored the complaint as he wanted no action to be taken but had to juggle the fact that the complaint was being instigated by the NEC. He was then mandated by the NEC to take action and then further mandated by the NEC to suspend your membership after you were suspended from the Constitution review group.
DeleteNo, I'm sorry, that's a pro-McEleny "reimagining" of what happened. Firstly, the complaint did not come from the NEC. It nominally came from Vernal and was co-signed by Donoghue, Cullen and others. McEleny had no ability to simply "ignore the complaint". He had to either dismiss it or pass it on to the Disciplinary Committee. He did neither, but by not dismissing it he was keeping it alive and he knew a decision would have to be taken later. Yes, OK, he happily broke the rules whenever it suited him, but by getting someone senior to nominally front the complaint, the Corri Nostra had ensured that he couldn't just forget about the whole issue. And the NEC did not spontaneously issue him with instructions about how to proceed. He went to the NEC and told them precisely what instructions he wanted to be issued with, because he knew his proposal was unconstitutional and he needed cover for it. Several months later, he claimed that by giving him the green light, the NEC had set a precedent that allowed him to suspend Kenny MacAskill from attendance of committee meetings, even though there was nothing in the constitution authorising him to do that.
DeleteAnon 3:40 pm
DeleteThat sounds very plausible. It was such a stupid thing to do to expel James. So it must have been a personal vendetta.
I do believe Chris argued against but in the end he was an employee and did as he was told
Nor is is correct to say the expulsions stopped when Chris was sacked. James’s expulsion was after Chris was removed from his post.
Not true, James. Chris didn’t bring your suspension to the NEC. In fact he was hoping that those pushing it would’ve just let things be but the NEC - without him bringing the matter up - instructed him to proceed with your suspension from the constitution committee. He argued that he could not do that as the constitution was silent on the ability to unilaterally suspend a member from attending committees they were elected on. He used the example of would the Nec think it was acceptable for him to suspend a member elected onto the Nec from attending the Nec and the answer was yes hence the precedent you mention.
DeleteWell, if you're claiming to have definite knowledge of that, I think you need to say whether or not you were a member of the NEC in September. Only a member of the NEC who was present at the meeting in question could say that for sure, and it certainly doesn't tally up with the information I've been given.
DeleteI was
DeleteI know for definite that AS didn't block Tommy's candidacy in 2022 - indeed, he was quite disappointed he decided not to stand (he told me) but, as you say, there were personal reasons for him doing so at the time. As for Tommy's relationship with others in the party, I can't speak to that because I don't know.
ReplyDeleteSerious question. Why are you posting this anonymously. I could say the same, or the exact opposite, and neither comment adds anything. If you really have that information first hand give it credibility by saying who you are, otherwise you are just a variation on the unionist press “a senior SNP insider said” crap that we get daily.
DeleteI assume people post anonymously out of fear - and James's blogs explain why people might fear.
DeleteI notice you also post anonymously, just as an aside. I've received enough abuse in my life; I have no need to encourage more. I just felt it was important to clarify the situation to assist James' excellent journalism. You can believe what you like but it would be an absolutely bizarre thing to lie about. It is what it is.
DeleteAnd the new leader of ALBA is who again?
ReplyDeleteSome bloke who once invaded the pitch at Wembley.
DeleteIt is a shame Shannon Donoghue took part in a far-right discussion, and it is only right that James should hold her to account for it. She seems to be quite obsessed with James—mentioning him a lot. Potentially she has an envy-driven fixation with James.
ReplyDeleteThe way she acts is really creepy
DeleteThe Rev is fairly singing James’s praises on X. Well worth a quick read.
ReplyDeleteHe is not a Rev just as Labour isn't Scottish
DeleteNot so much rev as raving bonkers.
DeleteHere's a question James. If you had been given a reprieve and had not been expelled from ALBA do you think you would have resigned by now and rejoined the SNP?
ReplyDeleteMike, do you do ductwork repairs, filter replacement and fan servicing to industry standards?
DeleteYes, we do.
DeleteI'd be scared to let my children sit next to some of these spooksters. I know FOR A FACT that one of that mob was sitting on a ferry behind a wee boy who was telling his uncle what he imagined was on the moon.
DeleteThe person in question leaned over the child's seat and said in a very scary voice, "Here's what to imagine. Imagine you're no a total halfwit. You wee shitebag. Keep yer trap shut and naebdy gets hurt.:
Everybody on the ferry was horrified. We'll everybody that heard that tirade.