The beam on Kate Forbes’ face was quite something.
She’d clearly been exhausted by the contest some time ago, and must have been dreading winning and having to continue fighting the assault from within her own party. Her evident delight and relief at her own failure was a revealing moment.
The great unknown in this election was just who the SNP membership was. No poll could tell us, and with over 50,000 people having quit the party in the last three years, nobody knew who was left. But we know now: idiots.
Today is the last day of Nicola Sturgeon’s record-breaking reign as First Minister of Scotland. In a few hours we’ll know who is to succeed her in the role. She was only the second SNP occupant of Bute House, and the legacy she bequeaths compared to the one she inherited from Alex Salmond is a matter of measureable record.
There can surely be no credible disputing that the SNP leadership election – and therefore that of Scotland’s next First Minister – is, to put it very mildly, under a cloud.
As things stand, whoever wins will be forever tainted by the process – easy meat for the Unionist opposition in the Holyrood chamber and the media and a potential legal challenge could cause untold further damage to the party.
With six days still left for voting, the case for a reballot – an administratively fairly trivial task in an election being conducted almost entirely online – is now unanswerable, and needn’t even involve a delay.
The SNP having a fondness for lying about their membership wouldn’t have come as quite such a shock to the Scottish press if they paid a little more attention to this website. Because we were pointing it out two and a half years ago.
It was in October 2020 that we told you how the SNP’s 2019 accounts revealed the party’s true membership figures weren’t the claimed 126,000 but more like 87,000.
Hats off to the SNP. Every time we think that the party’s leadership election can’t get any more absurdly farcical, they pull something extra-mad out of the bag.
After this happened yesterday, it suddenly become “known” across the Scottish media that the SNP NEC was going to hold an extraordinary meeting in order to authorise the release of the membership figures after all three candidates demanded them.
Some of the country’s most senior hacks, including BBC Scotland’s Political Editor and the editor of the Daily Record, sombrely informed their readers of the development.
Tonight’s debate on Sky News between the three SNP leadership candidates was yet another inconclusive low-scoring draw, with each contender taking a few hits (almost all from host Beth Rigby) and also landing the odd blow on each other.
The most notable of the latter was probably when Ash Regan gave Humza Yousaf a rather uncomfortable time over his claiming credit for the Queensferry Crossing when he was Transport Secretary.
As well as frantically trying to deflect by pretending Regan had attacked the SNP’s record on the project in general, Yousaf insisted that he’d played a major role in the bridge’s delivery. So let’s just check the timeline.
The Unionist media in Scotland (ie all of the media in Scotland) usually keeps up a pretty united front when it comes to the subjects of independence or the SNP. So it’s been fascinating in these last couple of weeks to see a genuine schism develop between them on the subject of the party’s leadership election.
(For the avoidance of doubt, we do not include Holyrood Magazine, whose splendid front cover image that is, in “the Unionist media”.)
Right back at the start of the contest we highlighted The Times’ full-on love-in for Kate Forbes, but most of the Scottish press has now made their preferences clear. And you’ll never guess who they really, really DON’T want to be the next First Minister.
Alf Baird on What Went On: “Swinney himself would need to become pregnant to prove his case; tho A widna haud ma breith.” Nov 28, 20:29
Nae Need! on What Went On: ““The UK Conservatives largely voted against the GRA 2004, but did little to repeal it when they returned to power.”…” Nov 28, 20:28
Alf Baird on What Went On: “Private school fees have to be paid somehow.” Nov 28, 20:25
Alf Baird on What Went On: “All that ethnic self-hatred is doing you no good, you know. Colonialism isnae really that difficult tae feegure oot: https://salvo.scot/scotlands-colonial-status/” Nov 28, 20:23
Campbell Clansman on What Went On: “Conservative MSPs voted 26-2 AGAINST the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. All the other parties voted overwhelmingly FOR the bill.…” Nov 28, 19:56
gregor on What Went On: “Karma @Illuminarty1111: “Lol , what a fanny”: https://tinyurl.com/mvhhxh95” Nov 28, 19:52
Nae Need! on What Went On: “It astonishes me that people are STILL falling for the ‘jam tomorrow’ carrot dangling of these liars.” Nov 28, 19:50
gregor on What Went On: “@PeteWishart has blocked you: “Also got signed copies for sale in Perth Waterstones.”: https://archive.ph/mYtrx” Nov 28, 19:48
Peter McAvoy on What Went On: “John Swinney scrap this policy.” Nov 28, 19:47
Nae Need! on What Went On: “Haven’t they just. The fuckers. Rips ma knitting big style.” Nov 28, 19:45
Chas on What Went On: “It did not take too long! Answer one question Alfie boy, who forms a government after we have been supposedly…” Nov 28, 19:44
Nae Need! on What Went On: “Exactly. The SC becomes pointless.” Nov 28, 19:43
Nae Need! on What Went On: “Couldn’t agree more.” Nov 28, 19:39
gregor on What Went On: “@PeteWishart has blocked you: “If you are looking for that perfect Christmas gift for the independence curious or those interested…” Nov 28, 19:35
Nae Need! on What Went On: “Spot on, Lorna.” Nov 28, 19:31
Nae Need! on What Went On: “Once the Conservatives took over from Labour, they could have repealed the GRA 2004. But they didn’t. Why not? I…” Nov 28, 19:29
Nae Need! on What Went On: “Love this. They were.” Nov 28, 19:24
President Xiden on What Went On: “??” Nov 28, 19:19
Zander Tait on What Went On: “Credit where credit is due. Fester Bestertester was a character created by Don Martin, the brilliant comic artist at Mad…” Nov 28, 19:15
meg merrilees on What Went On: “Seems to me that John Swinney, speaking as a man, has no problem saying that ‘a trans woman is a…” Nov 28, 19:00
Robert Hughes on What Went On: “Almost certainly : and note …..if they do it won’t be until next year/Winter . So basically it’s another case…” Nov 28, 18:58
SteepBrae on What Went On: “Good luck to the team asked to harvest the eggs.” Nov 28, 18:42
Alf Baird on What Went On: “Independence requires decolonization which means colonialism is our ‘condition’ with liberation the only remedy. As colonialism is based on psychology…” Nov 28, 18:36
Sven on What Went On: “Aww sugar, Garavelli, now you’ve done it ! At least with Candyman his name required to be said 5 times.…” Nov 28, 18:24
John C on What Went On: “What struck me was how the Scottish Government sent in KCs so unprepared & unaware of the entire trans debate.…” Nov 28, 18:22
twathater on What Went On: “MEANWHILE we have pensioners freezing in Scotland horrified at the thought of their next heating bill facing a choice of…” Nov 28, 18:09
Garavelli Princip on What Went On: “By the way, Where’s Hatey? I guess it’s a case of “never disturb your enemy when he is making a…” Nov 28, 17:40
Garavelli Princip on What Went On: “And here’s the thing – his eggs could be fertilised by his own sperm! We have reached biological Nirvana -…” Nov 28, 17:36
Chas on What Went On: “Absolute madness unfolding. What is really worrying is that there are still a lot of people in Scotland who think…” Nov 28, 17:26
