The Alba Party's shambolic infighting intensifies as the convener of Inverclyde branch sends an email to all local party members blasting the MacAskill leadership for "barely registering" - and then QUITS

An Alba member from Inverclyde has forwarded to me an extraordinary email that was sent out to all local party members two days ago by Jim McEleny - who I presume is Chris "Mad Dog" McEleny's father, unless there's also a brother with the same name.

""Stand up for what is right even if you stand alone. Stand up for truth, regardless of who steps on it."

Suzy Kassem

I believe that it is essential to stand up for our beliefs even when everyone around us disagrees with what is being said. Because silence implies agreement and speaking out could provide courage for others facing similar struggles.

Staying silent about the things that bother or scare us won't make them go away. In fact, it could make them worse by giving the people who are causing those problems a feeling of impunity.

I believe that the recent treatment of our former general secretary by the Alba Party has been shameful. In last year’s Gourock by-election we achieved Alba Party’s highest ever result at almost 10%. At that point we were on a trajectory to win seats at the Scottish Parliament election.

Since then, after the decision to unfairly expel the former General Secretary - one of the late Alex Salmond’s chief strategists and confidantes - the party has struggled in by-elections and we have went from polling numbers that would see success next year to barely registering at all.

To that end, I can no longer continue as the Convener of the Inverclyde Alba LACU that as a result of how the Party has treated someone who led the independence movement for a decade on Inverclyde Council and has stood in every single election on our behalf since Alba Party was formed by Alex Salmond.

I wish you all the very best for the future and thank you for your support of Alba Inverclyde LACU during my time as Convener and our Alba Party group leader on Inverclyde Council.

The dream shall never die.

Jim McEleny

Former Convener

Inverclyde Alba LACU"

It won't surprise you to hear that I don't have sympathy with either side in this dispute.  Chris McEleny is the classic example of living by the sword and dying by the sword - he regularly abused his powers as General Secretary to trample all over people, and was not shy about resorting to outright falsehoods in doing so.  The only excuse anyone has ever been able to offer for his behaviour is "he vos only following orders", ie. that the beneficiaries of his abuses of power were people like Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and never himself.  But even if that was true (and I don't believe it was) it means he knew he was doing the wrong thing and carried on doing it for years anyway.  Those of us who were on the receiving end are not going to be impressed by breathtaking hypocrisy about "standing up for what is right even if you stand alone".  That is scarcely one of McEleny's values - indeed, the polar opposite appears to be one of his values.  "Stand up for what is wrong because that's what you're paid for.  Stand up for lies because you think you'll get away with it" would just about sum it up.

As far as McEleny's performance in the Gourock by-election is concerned, the fact that it's still considered some sort of stellar result speaks volumes about just how catastrophic Alba's electoral record has been otherwise.  He achieved that "success" because Alba sat out multiple other by-elections in order to pour all their resources into Gourock - and yet despite supposedly being a big local name, he still took less than one-tenth of the vote.  And perhaps even more revealing is that he brought essentially no personal vote whatsoever to the table in the 2022 local elections, when Alba's resources were spread more evenly.

Presumably McEleny senior is acting on instructions from (or according to the wishes of) "Mad Dog" himself, and so this will be part of the five-dimensional chess the former General Secretary imagines himself to be playing as he bids to resurrect his political career.  Is he trying to trigger some sort of popular uprising against the leadership, so he can then use his leverage as Alba's Nominating Officer to regain control of the party?  Or is this is a sign that he's finally given up on a comeback within Alba, and is instead preparing the ground for a defection of his faction to a different party or grouping?  One way or another, we'll find out pretty soon.

Ironically, one of the key factors that led to McEleny's expulsion was his abuse of emailing privileges - he sent out a long email to all Alba members at the end of last year which sought to undermine the announcement that the acting party leader had only just made that the position of General Secretary was to be abolished.  Now that McEleny's father has also used his emailing privileges to attack the leadership, it wouldn't be surprising if those privileges are much more tightly controlled in future - perhaps by ensuring that all emails have to be vetted by Tyrannical Tasmina and her team.  

That would be in keeping with the response to whistleblowing last year about wrongdoing in the party's upper echelons - instead of accepting a need for greater openness and transparency, Tasmina introduced a new rule requiring all elected committee members (including NEC members) to sign a legally binding gagging agreement.  If some people have flatly refused to sign, on the basis that their loyalty is to the members who elected them and that they are not employees required to take orders, that might explain some of the ongoing strife we've seen in recent weeks.

*  *  *

The running total in the Scot Goes Pop 2025 fundraiser currently stands at £2760, meaning it is 41% of the way towards the target figure of £6800.  If you'd like to help the blog keep going, donations by card are welcome HERE, or alternatively you can cut out fees altogether (depending on which option you select from the menu) by making a direct donation via PayPal.  My PayPal email address is:  jkellysta@yahoo.co.uk