THE SNP NEED TO BURY UNITY TO SURVIVE.

THE SNP NEED TO BURY UNITY TO SURVIVE.

The SNP are on the wrong road. They have been on it for years. There has been only one driver and she was working with no map, no direction, no plan, secret or otherwise.

Now she has retired. It could be called forced retirement as she knew a whole range of insurmountable problems were closing in and there was no road left where it would not result in a major crash. Like so much that had went before there was no strategy, no planning , to ensure a smooth departure. There was no time at all, within days it became clear that the selection of a new driver was going to require some urgent re engineering of the selection process. Timescales were constrained to rush the choice through, budgets were set at a ludicrously low level greatly inhibiting the ability for any candidate other than the patsy Continuity candidate whose sole purpose and role was to keep the lid on things long enough to ensure a quick getaway.

The “plan” as such was blown to smithereens when it became impossible to hold the election for the 106.000 members quietly and constant pressure revealed that the English company operating the ballot were told to expect only 78000 ballot papers. As further pressure built up it was admitted membership had fallen to 72,000. Eventually we are told around 50,000 voted and in terms of first preference votes the majority did not want the replacement continuity driver. He scraped just over the 50% support, but only when second preferences were added. Worse many who supported him did so BEFORE the lies over membership numbers were exposed and wanted to change their votes but were denied that opportunity.

So, even before the police felt Peter Murrell’s collar the new driver’s dodgy mandate was as weak as dishwater and self advertising himself as the Continuity Candidate was exposed as the huge mistake it was.

Enough of the past. He now has to steer the Party through a literal minefield of problems. He has not got off to the best of starts. I read that the Party are claiming 7000 new members since the election. Put simply this is just another membership lie up there with the 30,000 new members who “joined” after NS had her “I cannot recall” “I would have to check” testimony to the Salmond Inquiry. Everyone else in the YES movement know they are recruiting former SNP members in their droves in recent weeks. It is just impossible that the SNP membership is increasing at this time. I state categorically that I do not believe SNP MEMBERSHIP is 72,000 I believe it to be much lower, by tens of thousands.

This leads me on to a future problem for Humza and the SNP. It is only a matter of months before the SNP ACCOUNTS require to be lodged with the Electoral Commission. It has been one of the great mysteries of recent years how membership revenues have remained relatively stable while it was widely believed membership numbers were steadily falling. One factor, which some believed might be responsible for this is that recent accounts have seen a huge disappearance of donations and there has been some speculation that these events are connected.

No matter we know that membership fell by tens of thousands during 2022. We also know that there were no sizeable donations during the year. We know branches faced delayed payment of monies owed to them by HQ in the past and we know Peter Murrell loaned the Party a six figure sum from his own pocket because of cash flow problems. So things are not good BUT this is not just a financial problem it is also potentially a huge political problem as well.

If membership income has fallen significantly and donations have dried up then the SNP, after years of substantial wage rises and jobs for their pals are going to be hopelessly dependent on the “short money” that flows from Westminster and is based on how many MP’s each Party returns at the election.

The next election is due in 2024 and current polling, which is expected to worsen for the SNP already suggests that at least a third of current seats will be lost, bad politically but catastrophic financially. Amid all the problems facing the SNP the charge of gross and irresponsible mismanagement may be the “killer” and a major contribution to the reasons for the Murrell twin team resignation. If I am right it should be followed by every member of the.NEC who did not speak out and of course the CEO and senior management. The SNP are going to be crippled by this irresponsible planning allowing their finances to become wholly reliant on short money finance from London. A nationalist party that became bloated and blind to that danger?

This may be a good time if you are currently employed at SNP HQ to look at alternative employment opportunities Leave it too late and it could be carnage as huge cutbacks will be needed if a serious electoral setback occurs. This in my view is certainly possible, indeed likely, as I think I am only scratching the surface of some of the problems ahead.

What seems clear to me is that continuity will not cut it. Therefore I welcome the news that a group of MSP’s have identified that keeping quiet and let it all drift along in the wrong direction must not happen and have decided to argue for a different course.

They should not be identified as rebels but as pathfinders examining alternative routes and strategies. That is long overdue. It should be regarded as a positive development. I hope they are successful and that their numbers grow. The SNP were at their most professional when they recognised that being a broad church allowed policy development to be widely debated internally long before it became public policy. This process anticipated opposition and often provided the most effective answers before their opponents even raised their objections.

All those advantages were lost in the Sturgeon years as policy was by dictate and as a result policy development and active campaigning became the stagnant years.

Open policy discussion educates members, creates involvement and engagement and creates a positive energy and enthusiasm for the future. I would suggest the SNP are going to be in desperate need of this in the troubling times currently ahead. I see the new FM was shocked to discover just how bad the Governance of the Party was under the Murrell’s. If he had been reading this blog in the last few years he would have known it chapter and verse. Still it is a step forward if the Continuity Candidate has determined to leave the building. I would recommend that that he also forgets adopting the recommendations of the Governance Report. I have read it in full and it is WORSE and more Stalinist than current practice. I will be writing much on this when my holiday is over.

I have intentionally avoided any new comment on the ongoing police investigations other than to remind the cult that being released pending further investigation should not be interpreted as popping their champagne corks just yet.

I am, as always

YOURS FOR SCOTLAND

I was sent this by a SNP friend. Gallows humour.

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