Image source, Getty Images
- author, Lindsay Bees
- role, Chief Political Correspondent, BBC Scotland News
-
That is a scathing attack.
Jim Sillars has called Nicola Sturgeon “Stalin’s little sister” and said she runs the SNP as a “cult of leadership”, but no one will be in any doubt as to who he holds responsible for the SNP’s massive defeat in the general election.
Shiraz is a party veteran who has long questioned the leadership’s approach, particularly its strategy for achieving independence.
In an open letter to party members, the former deputy leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) described current leader John Swinney as a “failed system” and called for a “disgraced old guard” to step aside.
He dismissed the idea for a moment to think about it, writing: “It should be a contrition, as the Fourth of July was inevitable, given that the Sturgeon/Swinney era has misguided the movement, lost common sense in government and promoted issues that are not important as national priorities whilst the real priorities of the people – education, housing, the NHS and infrastructure – have been dealt with with astonishing incompetence.”
His criticism will come as no surprise to anyone who follows Scottish politics closely.
But the brutal tone of his letter has raised the stakes, with the SNP coming out in slammed for its first election defeat in more than a decade.
The outcome was worse than many lawmakers had feared, and votes were still being counted as the inevitable aftermath began.
“The ship sank.”
Joanna Cherry, who was expelled from her Edinburgh seat, was one of the first to hold Nicola Sturgeon accountable and call for an apology.
She has previously been an outspoken critic of the former prime minister’s push for gender recognition reforms and the centralisation of power in the hands of a few key party leaders.
She told Sky News at the weekend that voters had become “disillusioned” by the SNP’s failure to make progress on the case for independence.
She also told the Guardian that John Swinney, who took over as prime minister after a chaotic year under former prime minister Humza Yousaf, had failed to stabilise the government and “it sank”.
Ms Cherry did not explicitly call for Mr Swinney to resign, but former Cabinet secretary Alex Neil has argued that the First Minister’s position had become untenable just two months into the job.
He has called on Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and Westminster leader Stephen Flynn to take over as head of the SNP.
This is not surprising given that he supported Forbes in last year’s leadership race.
So as the accountability game intensifies, is Swinney in danger of becoming the latest electoral casualty?
So, it seems highly unlikely that will happen.
Image source, Getty Images
Indeed, there seems to be no appetite among SNP leaders for further change at the top.
Former Westminster leader Ian Blackford told the Sunday Mail: “He is the right person for the job because there is no one else more suitable.”
If the SNP’s elected politicians are happy with Mr Swinney’s leadership, what about the party’s grassroots?
Mr Shiraz’s letter also calls on the wider SNP membership to repent.
“You have become so accustomed to not thinking for yourself that you have allowed the party to become intellectually hollowed out,” he told them.
“The time has come to take back power for the party,” the former deputy leader continued.
Just two months ago, Mr Swinney was seen as the right man to lead the party, in part because of his huge popularity among party members.
And there are no signs yet that his standing at the grassroots level is waning.
Still, there are plenty of issues for the party to address in these stormy post-Sturgeon times.
With UK House of Commons elections looming in 2026, answers will have to be found quickly.
