Why I resigned from SNP

So many friends have asked me this question that I felt I ought to write a response because the answer isn’t simple and certainly can’t be reduced to a soundbite or a single sentence.

Up until the 2014 referendum there had always seemed to me to be a nobility of purpose and an integrity about SNP which has always been as much a political movement as it is a party. Of course, it wasn’t perfect, of course we made mistakes, but they were honest mistakes. There were, for instance, aspects of the White Paper, Scotland’s Future, that we got wrong. The much derided failure to accurately predict future oil prices which plummeted in the immediate aftermath of the referendum was one example. But in picking the mid-range estimate of expert oil forecasters there was still an integrity in the method.

This integrity characterised our approach towards Scottish politics after the re-convening of the Scottish Parliament. Our aspirations of assuming government in Scotland were based on the proposition that in delivering good and competent government under devolution we could demonstrate how much better we could do if we had the full powers of Independence. What was good for SNP would also be good for Scotland. What was good for Scotland would also be good for SNP. We sought to establish a virtuous spiral and we strained every sinew to that end.  The public liked that proposition and gave us the opportunity in 2007. We did so well as a minority government between 2007-11  that they gave us the highly enthusiastic endorsement of an outright majority in 2011.

That was before we became ‘the Scottish establishment’ when things got much easier and before the opposition parties plummeted to their more recent dysfunctional depths. It was before a Brexit that Scotland voted against and before Boris Johnson, a full blooded anti-hero took office. 

We were much helped in having a leader of ‘once in a generation’ capability who had a cabinet of mainly world class politicians gleaned from ranks of MSPs who were in themselves almost all people of commitment and ability. This reflected SNP as a party which had long been a meritocracy. It was a famously ‘broad church’ and its membership pews were filled with broad minded people; people of ability and intellect, wit and wisdom and who in the main had common sense as a common denominator. In this we reflected Scotland as it was and as it had been. The SNP founders and a rich assortment of predecessors still sat amongst us, more than mere ghosts, but as living inspirations. Robert Burns might also have happily sat amongst us. So might Adam Smith and David Hume.

It was a stimulating environment full of debate and discussion. Intellectual rigour was common currency and radical ideas flowed and were tempered in the heated  fires of fierce debate. This broad church coalition of strong and independently minded individuals could only be held together because tolerance, that now almost forgotten virtue, was in our DNA. 

Up until September 18^th 2014 I could hold my head up and look anyone in the eye and argue for SNP and for Independence. There were only a few areas of policy on which I disagreed. NATO membership was one. There were very few others.

From that moment onward mistakes began to be made. I am not going to catalogue these here. What I find in speaking to SNP members is that there is a remarkable consensus as to what these mistakes were. Poor policies have been followed by poor legislation and increasingly poor government. Independence appears to have slipped increasingly lower on the agenda. Other dubious and doubtful policies have assumed a higher importance.

SNP is no longer a meritocracy. People seem to be increasingly selected for other characteristics and this directly affects performance. As performance plummets so the focus on virtue signalling and spin doctoring has of necessity had to increase. Increasingly a bunker mentality has prevailed with even the most constructive criticism being aggressively slapped down. Constant appeals are made to loyalty. A cynical management and manipulation of membership expectations is frequently deployed. Every time morale begins to flag, someone of apparent stature pops up and suggests that Independence has never been closer or that a Referendum is only months away.

The May election this year was initially hailed as the most important election ever. We were aiming for an outright majority. I had been steadily losing faith in SNP but if the leadership could achieve an outright majority and on that basis secure an Independence Referendum then as far as I was concerned all would be forgiven.

I put aside my doubts and my disenchantment and as a candidate I campaigned as hard as I could within the limits of covid restrictions. I campaigned for ‘Both votes SNP’ because in the Highlands and Islands Region that made sense and there was a real possibility that we could win more than one list seat.

Within days of the campaign starting, my doubts resurfaced as the leadership began to water down and prevaricate on the commitment to a referendum. Instead of campaigning strongly for Independence and the necessity of Independence in order to ‘build back better’ the leadership were talking about a referendum after we had ‘recovered from covid’. The campaign lost momentum before any had really built up.

This should have been the most important election ever. It should have been the one where we campaigned for Independence like never before. It should have been the one that we threw everything at, kitchen sink and all. Instead the leadership prevaricated and we lost that best chance for a referendum. I say that because another outright majority was within our grasp and because of precedent. A precedent that was laid down in 2011 when our outright majority triggered the first referendum.

English law is largely based on precedent and this is important because it shapes the mindset and the values of most of the people in the UK. After an outright majority it would have been much more difficult for Boris Johnson to deny a referendum. Equally important after an outright majority it would have been much more difficult for the SNP leadership to procrastinate on a referendum.

Some friends suggested that I should jump ship and join Alba but I had signed up to be an SNP candidate. I had an agreement to fulfil, a contract to honour that would only expire on election day. I kept on campaigning for ‘both votes SNP’. Of course SNP didn’t fulfil their part of that contract. I was discriminated against not once but twice in the selection processes. There were other aspects of the selection processes that shocked me just as much. I will discuss these issues more fully in future. For now I will just say that it must take a special sort of person to acquiesce in a process in which they are discriminated against; perhaps a person lacking in self- respect. I am not that kind of person. Nor do I believe in discrimination of any sort for any reason. The end can never justify the means.

Even so it was a terrible wrench to leave SNP. I was sad and angry in equal measure. I still am. SNP was never just another political party. The central core of its cause of Independence gave it a nobility and a purity of purpose that other parties lack. Something special and precious has been lost in these last few years. Many recent conversations with SNP friends suggest that the situation is now irredeemable. There is no way back, no saving SNP from itself, and that is why I left, with the full intent of continuing to campaign for Independence and for better government of Scotland.