BREAKING: Alba takes another major step towards total disintegration, as the party's East Lothian branch passes a motion of no confidence in the party leader Kenny MacAskill, after he breaches the Alba constitution by overturning the democratic vote which had installed the highly-respected Morgwn Davies as the lead Holyrood list candidate

It shows you the level of (justified) paranoia within the ultra-Stalinist Alba party that three different people (who as far as I know are all unconnected with each other) have contacted me about a shocking development, which relates to the leadership's betrayal of one of the highest-regarded members of the party, but none of them actually directly mentioned who they were talking about.  One was dropping heavy hints in the hope I could it work it out by myself, but my mind had gone totally blank.  However, I think - touch wood - I have finally been able to piece together that it must be Morgwn Davies, because I've now seen screenshots of an email from the "Convener of Alba East Lothian", and judging from the Facebook page, Morgwn was still the Convener of Alba East Lothian on 26th January.

He is indeed an extremely decent and well-regarded man.  I know him mainly from my time on the Alba Disciplinary Committee in 2024, which was of course ironically curtailed by my own suspension and eventual expulsion from the party on absurd trumped-up charges, meaning the tables were turned and I had to attend a Disciplinary Committee hearing as a "defendant".  Morgwn was literally the only person at that meeting who wasn't a drone following strict leadership instructions to expel me, and if he hadn't been there I would never have known that they had outrageously questioned a secret witness (Hamish Vernal) without my knowledge, and I certainly would never have had any inkling of what Vernal had said.  In the previous committee meetings that year before my suspension, Morgwn had consistently and bravely demanded that due process be followed at all times while Chris McEleny and Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh were busily trying to get half the Alba membership suspended or expelled, with the eager assistance of the drones on the committee.

So it's no great surprise that the Alba leadership ended up shafting Morgwn too, although I suspect this may still be the final straw for many people who hadn't yet woken up the basic nature of the party they are members of.  Remember that we know the NEC is now firmly under Kenny MacAskill's control, so unlike on previous occasions this can't be blamed on shadowy figures behind the throne - the buck this time stops at the very top. Unsurprisingly Alba East Lothian, of which MacAskill is still a member (in spite of his NEC-mandated list candidacy in the north-east!) has passed a motion of no confidence in him.

Here is the text of Morgwn's email to East Lothian party members - 

"This is the most difficult email I have had to write as Convener of ALBA East Lothian.  On the 29th of January I felt honoured and privileged when I was informed that the outcome of the members' vote to list candidates for our region had placed me first with 44% of first preferences votes in a field of 4 candidates.

Some of you will have voted for me and I thank you for that.  

However, I will not be a candidate as I was informed, a mere twelve hours before the launch event, that I had contrary to the party's constitution, been deselected; not for anything I had done.

But as far as I can ascertain because two candidates withdrew and said they would not stand if I was the lead candidate.  Also, I was told the Executive of ALBA Edinburgh and some activists in Edinburgh had resigned because they wouldn't accept the democratic result and said they wouldn't work with me.  This was communicated to me a mere 12 hours before, what I had been told was the launch event for our candidates, in fact it turned out to be a secret launch and apart from Glasgow no candidates have been publicly unveiled.

So, because a dozen or so people were unhappy with the result the NEC voted 6 to 4 to deselect me.  

Since that meeting, 2 members of the NEC have resigned in protest, and the National Organisation Convener has resigned.  I don't know if that is linked to my deselection or for other reasons.  Also, one individual stood down as a candidate in their region in protest.  

So since the 13th of January the party has lost its Chair, National Membership Secretary and National Organiser.  Not great fun in the run-up to an election.

I am now considering whether I wish to remain a member of ALBA.  I will take a few days to reflect and think about it.

Our AGM did not take place on Wednesday evening as when I spoke to Kenny MacAskill about my deselection, he said it would not be appropriate to come and Chair ALBA LACU's AGM.

Instead we had an ordinary meeting and two motions were unanimously passed, one saying that ALBA East Lothian has no confidence in the party leader, Kenny MacAskill, for the role he played in overturning the members' vote.  The second was a vote of no confidence in the National Executive Council (sic) for overturning the members' vote.  

Today, Corri Wilson, the Party's Director of Operations will be informed of the two votes of no confidence.

The party has not been in touch with ALBA East Lothian to inform us of who the final candidates are for our region, for now it is a closely guarded secret.

There is nothing else to say."

Incidentally, I've seen a photo of the "secret launch" of Alba's list candidates (which I'd better not share with you just in case it somehow reveals my source), and in a grim way it is absolutely hilarious.  They all look utterly miserable.  Christina Hendry looks like she's either just witnessed a murder, or committed one herself.  I couldn't see the Crossmaglen Columbo (Chris Cullen) on the stage, which is interesting because I was told he was likely to get a plum spot on the list, but perhaps he just wasn't in the photo for some random reason. 

Morgwn's fate powerfully illustrates the truth of what I said only a couple of weeks ago in one of my videos - that Alba's members have no control over their party, because the leadership will simply nullify the result of any democratic vote they disapprove of.  This is essentially a carbon copy of Alex Salmond's outrageous decision (made under extreme pressure from Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh) to nullify the victories of Denise Findlay and Jacqueline Bijster in two office bearer elections in 2023.