The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


The Patsies

Posted on March 18, 2023 by

The mainstream Scottish political media might not have many professional standards, but there’s one it’s still pretty diligent about upholding.

And that’s that if a political party’s press office starts really taking liberties and making them look like fools, all bets (and gloves) are off.

So when SNP chief of comms Murray Foote (one of the press pack’s own, of course, being the former editor of the Daily Record) fell on his sword yesterday over the party’s false claims about its membership, his pals weren’t falling for the sacrificial decoy.

The first attempt to get a comment from SNP HQ met with a straight-up dodge:

But their second effort was spectacularly worse.

While it was certainly quite an audacious move to go with “We were trying to give you a completely different lie to the lie we actually gave you! Sorry about that!”, the response was perhaps one that ought to have been foreseeable.

Firstly, of course, everyone and their monkey pointed out the obvious absurdity of the SNP claiming to have been unable to produce an accurate up-to-date membership figure when party CEO Peter Murrell used to pump them out live minute by minute.

The statement also raised the intriguing implied corollary that the SNP maintains a collateable spreadsheet of reasons why members have left, at the same time as not even being able to tell how many members it has at any given moment.

And even the Scottish press won’t have their intelligence insulted quite THAT crassly.

Scores were settled.

It was so bad that even the most anodyne don’t-rock-the-boaters of the cosy career commentariat felt compelled to pipe up.

And those in the SNP who’d previously been targeted by Murrell and Foote did their best to keep a straight face while putting the boot in.

And soon the men in grey kilts were summoned.

Wings sheds no tears whatsoever for Murray Foote in his role as fall guy. The delivery of karma to his door has been long overdue. But for the SNP to plumb even greater depths than the author of the infamous “Vow” and attempt so ham-fistedly to throw him under the bus is a notable feat that shows just what a flailing panic the once-invincible party now finds itself in.

It looks almost inconceivable now that Murrell will survive the weekend. And if he goes, then the whole house of lies really will come crashing down.

.

[EDIT 12.05pm: And he’s off.]

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

0 to “The Patsies”

  1. Wee Chid
    Ignored
    says:

    Just puzzled as to why the NEC have finally got upset at a unionist like Foote leaving but have done sod all about all the ordinary members who have left because of the lies and corruption within the SNP. Seems like grassroots members really are considerd as unimportant and only blue tick celebrities are worth bothering about.

  2. TheSNPLeftMe
    Ignored
    says:

    Yet sturgeon states indignantly that Ash had no reason to doubt HQ integrity?

  3. Vivian O’Blivion
    Ignored
    says:

    There’s a lot of paper shredding and cooking hard-drives in microwaves that can occur between now and then. Call in the Polis, it’s a crime scene!

  4. McHaggis69
    Ignored
    says:

    THIS is why I happily pay £10 a month.
    Proper evidenced reporting of what is actually going on.

  5. Alisdair Mclean
    Ignored
    says:

    That is independence well and truly kicked into the long grass after being kicked down the road countless times by the Murrels. Unfortunately, it will take some time for ALBA to rise to the occasion but I am putting my trust in them. It’s going to be a long haul.

  6. Den
    Ignored
    says:

    The old adage springs to mind “Never pick a fight with a man (or woman) buying their ink by the gallons”

  7. TheSNPLeftMe
    Ignored
    says:

    Wee chid @ 11:23am

    correction.
    Blue tick and TransCult members. Only a dozen of the Cult need do is suggest leaving and Sturgeon rushes out the famous video. 50,000 long term members leave and she makes it clear that she doesn’t give a shit.
    Remember the NEC knew that the membership was falling.
    They knew that the accounts were not being made open.
    The current NEC issued a critique on the three who resigned for being refused access to Party financial data.

  8. Ian
    Ignored
    says:

    Get the helicopters ready, evacuation to a safe country is required. Rwanda, maybe?

  9. SteepBrae
    Ignored
    says:

    Spinning the narrative, changing the frame – you have to hand it to journalists!

    The real stories are waiting to be told.

  10. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    Have to say Chris Musson has always seemed one with the most integrity.

    He always got targeted by the in crowd cos he writes for the Sun.

    I do believe Sturgeon gave him the cold shoulder on several occasions.

    No wonder he’s getting the boot in

  11. Cris Thacker
    Ignored
    says:

    Hate to sound like a conspiracy nut, but perhaps this was the plan all along? Crash the SNP in to a dead end at high speed and decapaite the independence movement at the same time? Either that, or we are witenssing grosest of gross incompetence (I prefer this version of events – which is a gift to our eniemies, TBH). Whatever happens after this, the SNP cannot, must not, be the driving force for independence any more. It’s now down to the ISP, and others.

  12. Calum
    Ignored
    says:

    *Buys ALL the popcorn…

  13. Giesabrek
    Ignored
    says:

    This is top-notch entertainment! Can’t wait for the serialised drama (or comedy?) to broadcast!

  14. sadscot
    Ignored
    says:

    “Yet sturgeon states indignantly that Ash had no reason to doubt HQ integrity?”
    @theSNPleftme
    She did indeed.
    As recently as yesterday, Yousaf was also accusing both Regan and Forbes of having offered no evidence to prove there was cause for concern.

  15. One_Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Lol, I think my plan for moving forward is so good it’s worth repeating.

    Raise the SNP to the ground, get rid of all the hingers on, comfy slippers and weirdos.

    Rebuild the SNP from the ground up using only the best materials with Ash Regan at the helm.

    Do a deal with Alba.

    At Holyrood return around 60 to 70ish constituency MSPs and Around 30ish Alba List MSPs.

    Tell Westminster to GTF.

    Jobs a good ain.

    Yoons and pretendy Indy supporters be crying like babies.

  16. Frazerio
    Ignored
    says:

    To paraphrase Agent Smith; “You Hear That Mr. Murrell? That Is The Sound Of Inevitability!”

    This had to happen. Once the Covid Queen panicked and ran, the rest of the fetid facade comes crashing down. That the SNP Head Office are now burning their bridges with the unionist MSM makes it all the better.

    Humza ‘wheres all the Ukrainian men’ Useless is now the Continuity Candidate for Change and unimaginable lack of awareness. Has a leadership campaign ever before been so spectacularly overtaken by events?
    All those idiotically loyal to Sturgeon or just plain bullied into submission, who blindly & dumbly backed Humza the clown have unwittingly, but clearly and publicly signed their resignation letters.
    The SNP leadership election must be suspended immediately. Sturgeon and Swinney amongst others have 100% faith in it. Wow. Yet it is being run by the husband of the current leader who is being investigated by the police for fraud and has just been called a liar by Murray ‘the Vow’ Foote. There just has to be a reset. Votes already cast, before the cold hard truth of poisonous Murrell/Sturgeon reign is finally widely exposed can no longer be valid.
    Finally, for those who attack the messengers. Turn your ire on the real culprits. The destroyers of the SNP and the defilers of the indy movement are not Salmond, Wings, Cherry, Regan, Murray, Hirst et al. Quite the opposite. These people and the 50k+ who have left the SNP are the ones trying to save our country from the self serving troughers who have contrived to hold the cause back for so long.

    I’m not one of those fatalists who feels indy has been set back decades. I simply believe indy is inevitable. It can only be delayed for so long. This current shitstorm is exactly whats been needed. Things can move surprisingly quickly.

    Anyone checked WGD recently? Might have to change his site to Wee Reverse Ferret.

  17. Jason Smoothpiece
    Ignored
    says:

    Nice to see it all falling down.

    The danger is in the undoubted panic that is setting in is there a chance that the truth will be revealed regarding the Salmond scandal, it only takes one to speak out then the show would really be on the road.

    I am unsure why there are still members of the SNP come to Alba but f you have a passing interest in independence.

  18. Marie Clark
    Ignored
    says:

    ” Wings sheds no tears whatsoever for Murray Foote in his role as fall guy. The delivery of karma at his door has been long overdue.” Amen to that Stu, and there’s quite a few more will be due a visit as well. You know what they say karma is a bitch, hell slap it into them for what they’ve done.

    The rats are leaving the sinking ship big time. Let’s hope that when they do the truth of what the did to Alex Salmond comes out at last.

  19. Geoff Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Every single MP, MSP and councillor who backed Humza was part of a cover up. This was so carefully organised that it fails the test of common sense to infer that Mike Russel, Angus Robertson, John Swinney and many, many more did not know what was going on.

    The aggression shown by Mike Russell in the last few days confirms he was part of it from the very start.

    Not one Humza supporting MP or MSP has broken rank even when it is now all in plain view!

  20. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    Will the Murrells be going to Wimbledon this year?

  21. BroughtyBoy
    Ignored
    says:

    Lots of shredding and deleting happening right now!

    NEC have provided the 12 hour window, it won’t be wasted.

    A man’s freedom at stake

  22. panda paws
    Ignored
    says:

    Murrell has resigned. Is going immediately.

  23. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    @One_Scot 11:56am

    Still worth a punt. We need fight. There’s nothing wrong in going with the heart and the gut as well as the brain.

    Turn this bourach into a benefit for independence.

  24. Cameron Lochiel
    Ignored
    says:

    With the fall of the Ceau?escus, the morphine drip injected into the collective veins of the zombified masses will be turned off. The comedown will be jarring and disorienting at first, but I trust they won’t blame the wrong folk for their misplaced trust in frauds, liars and shysters. Moreover, I trust they will behold the morning sunrise with joy and hope, embracing the new dawn

  25. Maureen
    Ignored
    says:

    BREAKING Peter Murrell SNP chief executive is resigning with immediate effect
    @LBC

    @LBCNews
    https://twitter.com/ginadavidsonlbc/status/1637061106102423552

  26. Marie Clark
    Ignored
    says:

    Yay that Murrell gone, wonder whose next. Oh dear whit a bourach.

  27. Fi
    Ignored
    says:

    Frazerio is correct, leadership campaign needs restarting, with the FACTS on the table, unless Murrell has been shredding like a hamster on speed building ten nests.
    How the guy involved in THE VOW, the thing that was introduced against the rules, which changed the minds of the swithering voters, could EVER have been involved within the SNP beggars belief. Sadly none of the younger members in the party will ever know how efficiently ran it Used to be, accountable from NEC down to branch level. It’s an unbelievable mess. I left 2 years ago

  28. Ian Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    There is no way anyone can trust how many ballots have been issued and to who.

    There has to be a rerun of the voting.

  29. Antoine Roquentin
    Ignored
    says:

    @Vivian O’Blivion

    “Call in the Polis, it’s a crime scene!”

    Too damn right, that’s exactly what it is and even the local hacks are sort of, in their way, half pointing to the fact … almost. Another beauty, Ed.

  30. Andrew scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Murrell GONE

  31. Garrion
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s gratifying to see the undoing of what turns out to be the true enemy of Scottish independence – much of Scotland’s own self interested, duplicitous, servile and often genuinely venal political class.

    From the average Scottish punter’s perspective, it’s a reinforcement of the deeply embedded trope that we ARE actually too wee too poor and too stupid to run our own affairs.

    This is the greatest betrayal that the Murrells and a’ their ilk deserve their millennia in hell for, not just the mundane and predictable sordid little crimes they committed., but the absolute and deliberate betrayal of the principles of arriving at a better nation, especially the most needy in it. These people deserve the worst of consequences and I truly hope they get them.

  32. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    Murrell gone !!

  33. laukat
    Ignored
    says:

    @Alisdair Mclean

    Not so sure this kicks Independence into the long grass. Rev Stu has been rightly saying for a while that the only way to Independence was once the Sturgeon had gone and the SNP had either been emptied or sorted. We’re close to that point.

    Secondly and probably more importantly the enthusiasm and drive of 2014 is starting to return. Just now its aimed at the fall of the Murrells but I think that will lead to voices that have been sidelined getting listened to again and if that happens who knows how quickly things could change?

    I also wouldn’t rule out the UK Government doing something stupid in attempt to make political capital. I would put it beyond the realms of possibility that they try to stop Holyrood sitting and take control of Scotland as per N Ireland or offer an Indyref saying its now or never or start to routinely use section 35’s. Any of those could spark a quick move towards Independence.

    One possible scenario that I think is beginning to look more and more likely is that Sturgeon is forced to resign, a new FM cannot be elected either because the SNP leadership contest is suspended or because Forbes or Regan can’t get enough votes. That would then necessitate a new Holyrood election and I doubt a Forbes or Regan led SNP will push the vote SNP1 & 2 line which in turn could mean a return for Salmond and a proper pro-Indy parliament.

    It would be a huge mistake by Unionists to believe that the fall of the SNP means the end of Independence. Its entirely the opposite.

  34. sadscot
    Ignored
    says:

    Understandably journos are peed off but, let’s not forget how helpful they were in this election by trashing Regan and trying to take Forbes out on religious grounds while ignoring major holes in Yousaf’s own narrative and failing to challenge him throughout.

  35. Ian McCubbin
    Ignored
    says:

    Murrell has resigned. Seems all your work Rev has paid off.
    Hope he is taken into custody as well.

  36. Tommy Sheridan
    Ignored
    says:

    Wings has been more important than ever in this deplorable period of SNP disintegration over the past few years. It is essential reading. Many of the comments are informed and illuminating also. Well done Stu. I believe Ash Regan and her campaign team deserve special mention. Despite the ridiculously short and rigged nature of the leadership contest with the SNP apparatchiks promoting the anointed one and dismissing Ash throughout and the behaviour of the pathetic press core ignoring Ash and trying to belittle her chances she set the agenda over the membership lies and shown herself to be a genuine contender with real substance. A victory for her offers real hope for the wider independence movement and cause. Fingers crossed. Good luck Ash.

  37. Geoff Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Ash made it clear at the start of her campaign that the Independence Movement should be empowered and set free from Party Politics.

    Now that the control freak Sturgeon has gone it is time for Alba, ISP, SNP, Greens, AUOB, Common Weal, Salvo, etc etc to get together and focus on Indy..

    If a Party want to focus on the TransCult, Saving the Union,then that is for their manifesto.

    Independence comes first for me. If a Party don’t put that first then I am not interested.

    On a personal level as a Husband, Father, Uncle, Brother and Grandfather I will not vote for any Party undermine Women’s Rights or Children’sSafety.

  38. Den
    Ignored
    says:

    Does the UK have an extradition treaty with Portugal ?

  39. Owen Mullions
    Ignored
    says:

    Murrell gone. It’s Independence Day!

  40. blackhack
    Ignored
    says:

    And as they say in racing circles….”And he’s off”

  41. Gerard McGhee
    Ignored
    says:

    What with the membership nu.brrsdisembling and the GCHQ story the SNP seems to have gone full Jonathan Aitken using his “simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play”.

  42. sadscot
    Ignored
    says:

    I wonder if HY will now withdraw from the race, him being the “continuity” guy! Actually, anyone seen him? He’s been awfy quiet.

  43. sadscot
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Geoff
    In that case take the Greens off your list. They are contaminants.

  44. Cenchos
    Ignored
    says:

    Song for Mr. Murrell

    /www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XIqdV72M0A

  45. Garrion
    Ignored
    says:

    Worth taking a sec and thanking Stuart Campbell for this. I didn’t see anyone else pursuing these lying fckers, nor questioning the direction of the formerly Sainted Nicola (I wonder where the wee ginger toilet seat warmer is going to go for his mortgage now?).

    He also took a lot of shit for it, came back and has been proven spectacularly right.

    Thanks Stuart.

  46. sog
    Ignored
    says:

    Who else is leaving?

  47. Rob
    Ignored
    says:

    Am I being hopelessly naive to think the SNP doesn’t necessarily have to be razed to the ground if the blame can be squarely dumped on the Murrells and their inner circle? I admit the Unionist MSM will provide headwinds.

    And now a wee plug… AOUB march in Glasgow on 6.May. Gathers Kelvingrove Way, sets off 11.30.

  48. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    I will say it again. Ash has played a blinder. And people thought she wasn’t experienced enough to be leader.

    Well look at her now!

  49. Anton Decadent
    Ignored
    says:

    Congratulations to Rev Stu for maintaining this site rather than walking away for an easier, less stressful life as looked to be on the cards last year. You stuck around and saw this through.

  50. Saffron Robe
    Ignored
    says:

    The mill of the Gods grinds slowly…but finely!

  51. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    Now’s the time for Murrell to have to firefight on all fronts.

    It’s time he’s arrested for massive scale fraud.

    600K reasons to put him in the pokey. With the alphabetties.

    Fraudster. And fraudster wife.

  52. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    Also , surely Humza needs to go as well. He was Murrells man , and as rooted in the swamp as the rest of them.

  53. wullie
    Ignored
    says:

    Deary Deary me. Was it a fiddle a Muddle or a Murrell

  54. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    Justice is a dish best served cold.

  55. Rob
    Ignored
    says:

    12:37, that’s the BBC reporting he’s resigned.

  56. Garavelli Princip
    Ignored
    says:

    Whatever else now occurs, Scotland will owe Ash Regan an eternal debt of gratitude.

    It has been her actions and questions, not to mention ultimatum, that has precipitated these events at this precise time.

    Hard to see how the election can be properly completed. Many of those who have already voted will be questioning their decisions.

    Some of the idiots will point a finger at Ash. They could not be more wrong.

    It was always going to take guts to bring down the cabal. She has it in spades.

  57. Matty
    Ignored
    says:

    Credit to Craig for calling it yesterday:

    ‘we wernt lying about that, we were lying about something else’

    Craig Murray@CraigMurrayOrg 16h
    This is the most hilarious attempt to excuse the deliberate lies.
    “Lying about the numbers was the accidental by-product of lying about the reasons people were leaving”.

    Dropping like ninepins, or is it rats from ships? The net is closing in.

  58. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    Anybody checked rubber dinghy prices in the Central Belt? 48 hours max from the Forth to the Channel with a favourable wind.

    Surely if this is all a WM establishment stitch up, England will offer asylum?

    Haud oan. I just remembered what happened to the Afghan interpreters.

  59. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    Time to call the interdict and open up this sham election to Independent scrutiny.

    Humza has been cheating his way to victory, aided and abetted by Frauder HQ.

    Humza is a liar. The Sturgeon Cabal are con artists. Cheats. Theives. Liars. Charlatans. Crooks. On the gravy train.

    No longer should they enjoy special status protection.

    A regime change. And prosecutions should take place.

  60. SusanAHF
    Ignored
    says:

    That’s good news anyway

  61. sadscot
    Ignored
    says:

    @Garavelli
    Both Regan and Forbes had to show great courage and guts throughout the last few weeks. They came under attack from their own and from the press too, remember. They challenged the top of their Party openly and exposed what was going on and why people should be concerned.

    Both should be commended for their determination to bring about change.

  62. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    Funny how a unionist like foot:

    No concerns about the lie that was the vow

    No concerns about the lie on purdah

    No concerns about the lies on Brexit

    No concerns on the lies about
    Salmond

    But oh I told a lie about members I must fall on my sword.

    No such unionist should ever have been put in place.

    I will be surprised if anyone in HQ turns up on Monday seems there is no point.

    Whether it is Ash or Forbes they will have the first 6 months rebuilding a HO team from scratch

  63. Peter A Bell
    Ignored
    says:

    Murrell has resigned!

    The last time I was this relieved, I had trouble flushing afterwards.

    #AshRegan #DissolveTheUnion #ScottishUDI #NoSection30 #ProudMalcontent

  64. Wee Chid
    Ignored
    says:

    And another one bites the dust…

  65. Garavelli Princip
    Ignored
    says:

    sadscot says:
    18 March, 2023 at 12:54 pm
    @Garavelli
    Both Regan and Forbes had to show great courage and guts throughout the last few weeks.

    Agreed.

  66. Ebok
    Ignored
    says:

    As the dam begings to burst, Regan is picking up plaudits here and elsewhere almost at the rate SNP members are deserting. It’s no surprise and supports my comment on Mar 1 (Last Days of Saigon) when I said this: –

    ‘As for leadership, many of us have been crying out for the emergence of someone who could follow in the footsteps of Alex Salmond. I really rate Ash Regan and believe she has all the attributes necessary to be his natural successor.’

    There is no telling how this shameful period will play out or what reaction we will see from the electorate, but the Scottish psyche is nothing if not based on an abiding sense of fair play, so I hope that when revelations detail the conspiracy to stitch-up Alex Salmond dawn on the public the Independence movement will be greatly strengthened and the surge of support for Alex will mirror the show of support for HIM post Indy 1.

    It is debateable whether Alex is able to return to the demands of front-line politics, but his peerless talents will prove invaluable in polishing Ash Regan’s undoubted potential as his successor as Independence leader.

  67. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    Leaky Liz Lloyd
    The c**t that penned the Vow
    And now Peter Murky Murrell

    Wonderful.

    We still don’t know what actually caused Sturgeon to quit. I am definitely getting the strong feeling that something big is going on behind the scenes. The way they all suddenly started dropping like flies is a real curiosity.

    Agree with all the comments about Ash Regan showing real leadership. Impressive. Hopefully others notice as well.

    I wonder why Murrell lied to Foote about the membership… He must have realized he’d fucked up badly as soon as Ash Regan started demanding the numbers… caught in a lie.

    I don’t know how this will play out but I think Peter Murrell is a massive weak spot. He’s pretty stupid it seems. It may well be his idiotic fraud that brought down Sturgeon… He is a walking fuck-up that guy.

    And if this is all about the missing 600k (i.e. it’s about Police more than Politics) then this sites role in highlighting that fraud was key in everything we are seeing happen now.

    If Murrell realizes he is being made into a scapegoat here, the patsy, things could get extremely interesting.

    Sturgeon looked more shocked than we all were when she resigned…

  68. Jason Smoothpiece
    Ignored
    says:

    Abandon ship!

    Praise the Lord Murrell is gone I hope he takes the creeps and perverts with him. They should be returned to the Labour Party where they truly belong.

    Well done Mr Campbell you are never far from bang on.
    Will the SNP rebuild or is everyone off to Alba?

    Will the truth now start to leak out?

    I do believe there is a smell what can it be?

  69. PB
    Ignored
    says:

    Can’t help but think that Foote leaving is simply because his purpose at the SNP is complete and it’s time to reinvent himself again.

    ‘All the world’s a stage’ and Foote is likely just another life actor working for the brit ish establishment.

    The only thing professional about ‘professionals’ of his calibre is the effort they put in to make ‘non-professionals’ think they’re held to a higher standard and therefore should be an authority.

    Grand job writing himself into recent Scottish history though – helping save the union, convenient buyers regret post brexit so shoed in at the SNP HQ, then kicking about about behind the scenes as the party ate itself alive with self serving agendas while bumping it core reason to exist.

  70. Wullie B
    Ignored
    says:

    You are all thanking the wrong person for this, Karen Adam is the one we should be thanking, for one careless ill thought out tweet prompted the return of Wings of Old, an energized Rev Stu who finally took the bit between the teeth again

    Thank You Karen Adam SNP, you actually did something good

  71. PhilM
    Ignored
    says:

    You know all this froth and nonsense about the SNP, Murray Foote and now the resignation of Peter Murrell, it reminds me of other world-historical individuals who left their mark in the annals and who went out at the top of their game. As Mhairi Hunter wisely reflects sometimes people have just ‘had enough’.
    In late January 2002 Kenneth Lay of Enron resigned and if I remember rightly he probably just ‘had enough’. For the life of me I cannot remember what happened next in that particular story but sometimes you just get to the point where you say to yourself ‘I’ve had enough’ and that’s it. Why ask any more questions about it all?
    Others who just ‘had enough’ also…Napoleon couldn’t be bothered conquering Russia…he said to himself ‘j’en ai eu assez’ and went to his holiday home on St Helena for some quality ‘me time’.
    Richard Milhous Nixon, inventor of the cassette recorder and 37th President of the US, ‘had enough’ of deciding things for all those ungrateful Americans. Talk about a grand departure…nicking a chopper and giving everybody the vickies. Classy but he’d ‘had enough’.
    That Bernie Madoff but too…made a shit-ton of money, ‘had enough’ and spent the remaining years of his life as some kind of a recluse in North Carolina.
    No matter what people might say, no matter what insinuations they might make whether justifiable or not unjustifiable, when you’ve ‘had enough’ it’s probably time to call it a day three hours before all of your good friends tell you how wonderful you were.
    So farewell Peter Murrell…a nation thanks you for your service. No doubt some royal recognition of your achievements will follow at His Majesty’s pleasure.

  72. John
    Ignored
    says:

    Worth watching.

    “I will be referred to as a woman, as female, as a feminist… there isn’t a misogynist alive who has the chops to change my mind. But they’ll call me a TERF regardless & Im at the point when I just don’t f***ing care”

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1636966573629149184

  73. stewart gunn
    Ignored
    says:

    Vindication for Wings.

    This mornings playlist at Bute House:

    “I’ve got 1-2-3-4-5 shredders working overtime, trying to fit it all in.”

    With apologies to Andy Partridge, and the great XTC.

  74. Contrary
    Ignored
    says:

    Good.

    Murrell is really gone? FanTASTIC news. He’s the malign influence behind the party’s shenanigans. What on earth gave him and his malignant wife the idea that they could whitewash over all the webs of deceit in a leadership campaign while piling on another conspiracy (to get their stooge of choice in place)? To be honest, I thought they’d get away with it again and didn’t hold out any hope for change. But Murrell and Sturgeon are so incompetent – or they don’t have the same backing they once had, for some reason – they couldn’t even put on the appearance of a fair election campaign, and this one isn’t only about internal party stuff, its of interest to the public. I hope his early (not early enough mind) resignation puts his get out of jail free plans into disarray. I hope he’s shredded.

    Ash Regan is top class material for First Minister, out of the choices given. She hasn’t had lifelong indoctrination to believe she’s not good enough and needs to ask permission from Westminster for everything, like the rest of us, and has a sense of normalcy and pragmatism about her. Give her support, and she’ll flourish I reckon. She’s promised the snp members she’ll make the party like it once was,,, I’d have thought they’d have jumped on that? Well, we’ll see.

  75. gregor
    Ignored
    says:

    Karma For Vandals (2020): The Last King of Scotland:

    (A musical collective based in Edinburgh, Scotland, working alongside anyone in order to create music spanning genres.):

    https://tinyurl.com/mvdn5v49

  76. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    Congrats are in order.
    The Rev, Ash Regan and Kirk Torrance, Kate Forbes and Michelle Thompson, after that coward Ivan McKee threw in the towel, all deserve our gratitude.

    Humza needs to step aside, he accused Ash of being an Alba plant and tried, the hypocrite, to use Kate’s religion against her.
    He has zero integrity.

    When Alex quoted – “There’s nane ever fear’d that the truth should be heard, But they whom the truth would indite.”
    He knew the end of the cabal was nigh.

    As someone on a previous thread said, he needs to get fighting fit.

  77. Gordon Hastie
    Ignored
    says:

    Latest: Murrell’s gone!

  78. Gordon Keane
    Ignored
    says:

    I see Peter Murrell has resigned with immediate effect!

  79. Vestas
    Ignored
    says:

    aukat says:
    18 March, 2023 at 12:14 pm

    “Not so sure this kicks Independence into the long grass. Rev Stu has been rightly saying for a while that the only way to Independence was once the Sturgeon had gone and the SNP had either been emptied or sorted. We’re close to that point.”

    We haven’t even scratched the surface of the embedded corruption in the SNP yet….

  80. Ian Maclaren
    Ignored
    says:

    Ah the strutting peacocks are fast becoming minging feather dusters!
    Russell next?
    Well done to Wings; and to Ash.

  81. bluegrass banjo
    Ignored
    says:

    jeezo

    looking back , amazing snp never kept finance seperate

    absolute power corrupts absolutely

    no clue what facts are coming out

  82. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Big Jock

    Yousaf is incredibly exposed now. Even if he wasn’t involved, he certainly knew and kept quiet. Not exactly a great position for an aspiring leader who will need to steady the ship, particularly since his support base are baling out as fast as they can.

    So what will happen with Regan and Forbes? They sort of need each other as neither are really ready for First Minister and rebuilding the drive for Independence. I think that will change rapidly but everybody pulling together would seem to be the best approach, now that the hostile takeover by the Labour Party has been repelled.

  83. christy m
    Ignored
    says:

    Buckle up there’s a shite storm a comin’!

  84. JGedd
    Ignored
    says:

    Even yet the media are not acknowledging that it has been former SNP members – having resigned because of the way the party has been subverted – who have become the opponents of the SNP leadership.

    The media are trying to convey the impression to readers that the media has been unaware of what has been deeply wrong within that leadership. They have ignored this site and others who have been signalling clearly for some time why so many former members are now hostile to those who have been running the present SNP. (Even with the resignations there are many more complicit who are keeping their heads down for the present.)

    The reasons for that manufactured impression is obviously because the media have been implicated in the cover-up. They have helped to conceal the transformation of the SNP into the travesty it now is. Some have had quite a cosy relationship with the leadership over that time and have helped preserve their reputations to the public.

    If we had had a properly functioning media with investigative journalists then all of what has gone wrong within the SNP would have been revealed but that did not suit their bosses who were happy to connive with the pretence. It was left to sites like this – but mainly WoS – to present the truth.

    Now the narrative from the unionist press will be that independence voters were gullible from the start and that they were fooled into supporting a lost cause by charlatans. It will be the usual distortions and lies from a media to their readers to prove that independence was a nonsense exploited by sly politicians and now our brave press is on to it. The trouble is, it will probably work because they have been gulling their readers for years.

    Separating the cause of independence from the lies and chicanery of individual politicians will not happen with them in charge of the narrative. The role of the media in helping to hide what was done to Alex Salmond will certainly never be admitted either.

  85. Heaver
    Ignored
    says:

    Willie B,

    Good point. Here’s where our grumpy host got stuck in again, thanks to Karen Adam.

    https://wingsoverscotland.com/for-karen-and-james/

  86. Confused
    Ignored
    says:

    comment of the day, from xymphora : said with regard to macron and france, but equally applies to us, or, indeed … anywhere …

    How did we end up in the West with an entire ‘leadership’ class – politics, foreign affairs, business, universities, ‘journalism’, etc. – that became COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT, IN EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY, SIMULTANEOUSLY? They always do the WORST POSSIBLE THING, even when sane and obvious alternatives are right in front of them. A lot of it is BRIBERY AND BLACKMAIL, now on an industrial scale, but I can’t help but think that early life BRAIN DAMAGE DUE TO ENVIRONMENTAL POISONING is also playing a big role. There is also a very STRANGE REJECTION OF REALITY, as if we can wish our way around PHYSICS AND BIOLOGY AND ECONOMICS, and even around the fact that there are others out there who might have different goals than we do, goals which we assume we can completely ignore (note how often these days the West is completely blindsided by sovereign decisions of other countries). We could FIX ALL THE PROBLEMS BY LITERALLY MAKING A LIST OF WHAT THESE CLOWNS ARE DOING NOW, and DOING THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

    I think here at the “end of history”, the West has created probably : the worst ideology in all of time (*), let’s call it

    NEOLIBERAL TRANNYISM

    – with an absolutist fire and sword/perpetual war for anyone who resists; it fucks you both ways, or more – the trannies will eff you in the ay; the bankers will eff you in the wallet and the pentagon will eff you in the humanitarianist interventionals if you don’t respect the human rights of bankers and trannies to do so as they please

    and your freedom is a panopticon surveillance grid via internet and smartphone and democracy is the freedom to choose which grifter gets to implement the decisions already made.

    Scotland always seemed to me a petri dish for these ideas – we are always in the forefront, “leading the world” (and often being laughed at) – if we can strike out, almost overnight, the entire rancid cabal of them – is this not a sign of hope for the world?

  87. sadscot
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Maureen
    What a complete eejit Hunter is. Her time will come.

  88. robertkknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Camelot on fire?

    Let it burn!

  89. sadscot
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Liz
    “Ivan McKee”
    What a spineless wee mouse he was. Michelle Thomson is scared of no one. I wish Forbes had appointed her to begin with. We wouldn’t have had to suffer watching McKee helping the press to try and take his “favoured” candidate right out of the race as he shook from head to toe every time they asked him a question.

  90. jlm
    Ignored
    says:

    Dinosaur media: “lying to the public, daily, is ok.”
    “lying within our secret society is not acceptable”

  91. Martin
    Ignored
    says:

    When Ash or Forbes take over… The truth will out. I fear we can’t see the conviction of the alphabet conspiracies but the past few weeks finally give me hope we will see the truth emerge. If Regan wins, watch for which members resign or are sacked, these are the ones who have something to hide. A lot of careers are about to end. We shouldn’t weep for a single one of them.

  92. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    Will there be a firesale of rainbow flags?
    Bet you couldn’t give them away now.
    Nothing dates faster than trend.

  93. Giesabrek
    Ignored
    says:

    Someone needs to do a Downfall parody of Sturgeon STAT!

  94. sadscot
    Ignored
    says:

    @JGedd
    The media is in this up to its eyeballs right back to the Salmond business when it refused to even report properly from the defence part of the trial. Right across the board in the UK, including in the Guardian.
    To this day, Salmond is shown nothing but contempt from all of them. It protected Sturgeon right through the whole thing including the committee inquiry and did not utter a peep when she declared herself “vindicated” after dismissing the findings of that committee as “Party political”. She wasn’t vindicated but the press ran with it anyway. It still hasn’t followed up the big story, the release of a highly confidental investigation within the Scottish Civil Service direct to a Daily Record journalist. The Salmond stuff which the Record then serialised with no outrage from the Scottish Civil Service or the Scottish Government. All highly prejudicial.
    If we had anything like a decent press here none of this would have happened. I think the press are actually worse than politicians.

  95. Ebok
    Ignored
    says:

    If these resignations should be a curse on Yousaf’s campaign, it is not reflected on the betting exchanges.

    Forbes odds continuing to lengthen, but strangely amid the £10’s and £20’s bets, there is one punter who has just offered to back Humza to the tune of £5K at odds of 1.3. No takers yet. His odds dropping to 1.16 or 6 to 1 on (bet £6 to win £1).

    Something not quite clicking with this.

  96. James Che
    Ignored
    says:

    SNP, Puppets on strings,
    The handlers are letting the strings go one by one,

    I wish they would be more active in closing the corrupt devolved government.

  97. TheSNPLeftMe
    Ignored
    says:

    Please do not let Murrell’s enforcer McCann slip off the Radar.
    As a Branch and CA official that man blocked every complaint and enquiry I ever made. He manipulated votes on the NEC. He prevented complaints of bullying going through. He ignored official branch enquiries. He did this as the Murrell Enterprises “thug”. He may not have been physical but he was an enforcer for the Murrells. He has a great deal to do with covering up the financial irregularities.
    If you leave HQ with people like that in position ot will never return to health.
    The treasurer should have also left by now. How did he keep the income so level with a 40% drop in membership.

    I am glad this day has finally arrived. I have been quiet for a long time hoping this would eventually all come out.

  98. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    Honestly, can there be «fair dealings» with a system pregnant with «falsehood» and which treats the people as «stupid»?
    Unionism is ideologically bust, they know it, but just do not want you to know it.
    Time to turn on the tap of kith n kin, family of nations sentimentality.

  99. Red
    Ignored
    says:

    Stuart, when are you releasing “STURGEON: My Part In Her Downfall”?

    I haven’t felt this good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978!

  100. barelybare
    Ignored
    says:

    Nah, the whole contest is without credibility, and all the same people who happily worked at HQ with Murrell are still in place. For all we know it is a fake resignation in that he will still be pulling strings. Needs an interdict, an audit, probably a rerun with monitoring by respected third parties. This byre needs mucking.

  101. PotAce
    Ignored
    says:

    Liz says:
    18 March, 2023 at 11:48 am
    Have to say Chris Musson has always seemed one with the most Integrity

    You’re having a laugh! You do remember which cesspit that piece of pondlife works for?

  102. Anne Johnston
    Ignored
    says:

    Real journalism, real activism..
    I’d say this entire tumbling down of cards is due to Wings.

  103. Scott+Shaw
    Ignored
    says:

    Now we may finally get the rteal information sarrounding the Salmond fit-up. I hope criminal sentences follow.

  104. PhilM
    Ignored
    says:

    It struck me earlier that all of these people resigning have a hitherto unnoticed common feature…they’re all ‘white’. Typical bloody elites I thought to myself. What kind of cultural revolution d’you call this?
    We cannot allow this stain on Scotland’s good name to continue for one moment longer, so after a hastily arranged Zoomer meeting and as one of the 289 co-convenors of the SNP-affilated group – the Committee of Utter Nobodies and assorted Transients – I am calling on those who self-identify as ‘non-white’ to do the decent and patriotic thing and strike a blow for ‘inclusive resigning’. Go now…for Scotland of course.

  105. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    Surely the leadership vote must be postponed now? How can any result declared after what’s happened in the past 24 hours be taken seriously?

  106. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    At last!

    Now we get to kick it up a gear.

    OK, it’s the 18th, but a Saturday, so it’s close enough…

    I know a lot of Scots don’t like Rugby Union, think it’s a toffs game for private school wankers, and in some ways, aye maybe it is.

    But 17th March 1990 was the day when Scotland faced the mighty England at Murrayfield for the Grand Slam decider which England, riding high, “best team in the world”, expected to be picnic after crushing every team they’d played, but completely under the radar, and still in with a wee shout themselves, they met a grim and determined Scotland team which defeated them 13-7. But it was more.

    I will never, ever, forget that roar, unlike any roar I’ve heard before or after, when David Sole and the squad didn’t jog out onto the pitch, but very calmly just walked out in a line, and Murrayfield just went bananas, and it made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up because somehow, you just KNEW. I don’t know how, but everbody just knew.

    I even remember thinking at the time, that on the morning of Bannockburn, 1314, when King Robert the Bruce rose up in the saddle and wrapped his wee axe about the head of Henry de Bohun, all those Scottish troops seeing it happen “knew” it.

    Will Carling later opened his heart on how complacency among him and his team-mates led to their defeat in 1990, and admitted that he still feels he requires therapy to deal with the memory. I think Mr Carling actually grew up that day.

    Scottish Rugby’s just for Yoons is it? Well, no that day it wusnae.

    Come on Ash Regan. Come on Alex Salmond. Come on Sara Salyers, Joanna Cherry, Rev Stu, Craig Murray, and everybody else with a dog in this race…. Forget the doubters and non-believers, let us be calm, purposeful, and ruthlessly determined to GET THIS DONE.

  107. Garavelli Princip
    Ignored
    says:

    JGedd 1:29

    Great Post. Real truth telling.

    Without Wings, Craig Murray, Ian Lawson , Great Grousebeater and others, the thrives of THE SNP would have gotten away with it.

    Above all Wings – totally fearless for truth.

    Hopefully we will see the whole stinking filth come out.

    It was true independence seekers who saw through the lies and made this happen.

    More to come!

  108. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    @theSNPleftme
    Couldnt agree more about McCann.
    Similar happened to me and others when we handed him a dossier on an utter corrupt creep who cheated his way into selection.

    We heard nothing, nada, zilch.
    We even copied in the Sturrells, more fool us.

    During the Salmond stitch up, that’s when we found out he used complaints as leverage to keep certain people towing the party line.

  109. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    I never again want our route to Indy left in the hands of one party, but I know this creates problems of it’s own.

    What is the solution?

  110. A Bruce
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m looking forward to the PRISM show tomorrow. I think it will be a humdinger.

  111. Tinto Chiel
    Ignored
    says:

    Wonderful news that The Mekon/Anti-Buddha has been forced out at last.

    I really don’t think the meltdown would have occurred so quickly (or even at all) if Stu hadn’t highlighted Bryson when he took up the cudgels again recently. It meant the SNP Wokers knew that at any time they could be exposed to the “What is a woman?” question which they couldn’t answer without looking ridiculous in the real world as opposed to the social media bubbles they live in. I think even the FM realised this when the prison/woman’s estate issue became mainstream after The Rev’s exposure.

    Of course, it took the persistence of Regan in particular (and Forbes) to keep questioning the numbers until the pips squeaked and the panic-stricken exodus began.

    More revelations to come I have no doubt but as one wise wag said on here a few days ago, AR and KF will need to stand back to back rather than shoulder to shoulder in the days ahead because they are still surrounded by treacherous people in their own party.

  112. Patsy Millar
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu, you have been completely vindicated. Thank you for going through all the angst you must have suffered to help get the truth out there. My hero!

  113. Patsy Millar
    Ignored
    says:

    Just want to point out that I’m thinking of going back to my Sunday name as I don’t want to be put in the same boat as those in the title of this article!

  114. Muscleguy
    Ignored
    says:

    “An new modernised membership system is currently being developed for the party”

    What’s the betting it includes the infamous Aberdeen pledge all members must sign in blood pledging their first born to slavery if they break it.

    A new leader is sorely needed.

  115. Muscleguy
    Ignored
    says:

    @Doug

    I doubt the terms of their bail will include a trip to Wimbledon. Also the shame will be too much.

  116. Frank Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Why are people surprised? Murrell always said he would leave politics when the cupboard was bare. He has a new post lined up. He is going to HMRC to a newly created position as Head of Financial Forensic Audit department bring his wealth of experience with him.
    The SNP NEC have also put out an appeal for more busses. The bodies they are throwing under the bus is stopping it’s progress. They need more busses or some of them will be found out!

  117. akenaton
    Ignored
    says:

    Well I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that M&Co would be gone in short order, weeks or months.
    Now don’t burst the effing ball by electing a lightweight to first minister, if you don’t want the independence movement to be shredded you need a safe pair of hands. Forbes has the political brain to handle the coming storm and start rebuilding without too much bloodletting, though revenge on the “pigs” and seat warmers would be gratifying.
    As they say revenge is best served cold, “keep the heid Duntocher!!”

  118. Thistle Bristle
    Ignored
    says:

    At last!
    Then there’s this.. with an air of ..should one say ‘indecent’?.. haste..

    https://news.sky.com/story/first-ministers-residence-bute-house-to-close-for-almost-five-months-for-essential-repairs-12836339

    I can’t help but wonder, how come only on the incumbents departure are ‘repairs’ found to be necessary?

    There has been mention of a painting
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3055587/Look-holds-whip-hand-chez-Sturgeon-Remarkable-dominatrix-painting-said-hang-SNP-leader-s-home-husband-cooks-cleans.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton

    So could the ‘repairs’ now so suddenly urgently necessary involve covert dismantling and removal of a ‘kinky sex’ dungeon and appurtenances, with other evidence unbecoming the official residence of those holding national high office?

    It would be shocking to think any of the ‘ring-fenced’ £600K ‘woven through the accounts’ had been spent in equipping such a cellar (or attic) of private peculiar pleasure..

    Or would be used to pay contractors to keep silent now, about what they are called to deal with?
    Super-super-injunctions, anybody?
    (Surely they won’t all simply be killed on completion, to silence them.)

    Let us hope that at least someone involved spills the beans so that truth will out.

    Mind, an estimated ‘five months’ work needed, before handover? Must be some (de)installation in there..



Comment - please read this page for comment rules. HTML tags like <i> and <b> are permitted. Use paragraph breaks in long comments. DO NOT SIGN YOUR COMMENTS, either with a name or a slogan. If your comment does not appear immediately, DO NOT REPOST IT. Ignore these rules and I WILL KILL YOU WITH HAMMERS.




↑ Top