Scottish independence: Inside story of the week that rocked the SNP

The session heard claims that the party was “not doing enough for trans people” and that an amendment by Humza Yousaf to the Gender Recognition Bill was an “attack” on trans people.

Some MPs shed tears for the loss of members over the issue.

And one distraught MP left the meeting after telling colleagues she now felt unable to speak about women's rights.

A male colleague said his branch had lost 35 long-standing activists in the past few days and another revealed a 40-member drop in his constituency association. But others claimed there had been little to zero impact on numbers in their areas.

The party’s lead at Westminster Ian Blackford ended the discussion, telling colleagues he would deal with the matter.

READ MORE: Why is the SNP infighting now with independence in our grasp?

Later that night, following reports of ‘significant’ numbers of more young people leaving the SNP over the party’s stance on trans rights, the First Minister issued a video message on social media.

Sturgeon said: “Yes, we have differences of opinion on gender recognition reform. We should debate them openly and respectfully.

“But no debate can be a cover for transphobia. Trans people have as much right as any of us to be safe, secure and valued for who they are.

“Transphobia is wrong and we must treat it with the zero tolerance we treat racism or homophobia.”

A message from me as @thesnp leader on transphobia. pic.twitter.com/ewjM7xWLjG

— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) January 27, 2021

Over the following days, tensions which had been simmering in the background exploded into hostility. A meeting of the party’s NEC descended into chaos and one of the party’s highest profile MPs had been sacked.

Today the Sunday National reveals what politicians at both parliaments and ruling committee members really think about the ferocious rows at the top of Scotland's biggest party.

And we ask what it means for the Holyrood election and independence.

How did we get here?

While the SNP has been riding high in the polls in recent months, major divides have opened up over two proposed pieces of legislation around hate crime and gender recognition.

Some groups including Young Scots for Independence and the party’s official LGBT+ wing Out for Independence, are championing reforms such as self-identification.

But some feminists in the party have voiced concerns about the rights of women being eroded and support the Women’s Pledge, which emphasises sex-based rights.

Falling largely on either side of these groups are those who support Nicola Sturgeon and those who back her predecessor Alex Salmond.

Overshadowing all this is their ‘big split’, which is currently played out throughout the Holyrood inquiry looking at the handling of complaints against the former First Minister.

The issues have been rumbling on but erupted at the end of last month.

READ MORE: SNP back plan to put BAME and disabled candidates at top of Holyrood list

Equalities campaigner Teddy Hope quit the party, claiming it had become a “core hub for transphobia”; there was a Twitter row between Cherry and Out for Independence; and the Scottish Government was accused of creating a “transphobes’ charter” over an amendment to the hate crime bill put forward by Yousaf, which he later withdrew.

This is was what prompted the backlash at Westminster and led to the First Minister’s unprecedented video on transphobia later that night.

The following day, a statement was released by the SNP saying its National Executive Committee (NEC) would convene at the weekend to draw up a definition of transphobia to be added to the members’ code of conduct.

SNP depute leader Keith Brown and business convener Kirsten Oswald said it would mean “that all SNP members know the standard of behaviour that is expected from them.”

An NEC member told us of “surprise" at the "unceremonious" way that meeting had been called “through Twitter”.

NEC fallout

On Sunday, another row erupted after plans discussed during the NEC meeting to shortlist BAME and disabled candidates for the SNP list in the Holyrood elections were leaked. A report on Wings over Scotland claimed there was much dispute over the proposal.

Sources told the Sunday National this is “pretty accurate” - despite agreement that the make-up of the party's candidates and parliamentarians has to change.

But there was huge anger over the details being published - which included a document of legal advice from QC Jonathan Mitchell on how these plans could fall foul of equality law.

MP Alison Thewliss, who is on the NEC, was among those who publicly criticised the emergence of the report.

Taking to Twitter she said: “Those who leak and seek to undermine the party, our activists and their NEC colleagues need to consider who they are serving. It certainly isn’t the cause of independence.

“We are so very close to independence. We stand on the shoulders of giants, and we owe it to all who have passed before to keep the heid.”

There is disquiet amongst NEC members over the matter – and distrust between them due to the leaking and factionalism.

"You're sitting there wondering who you can trust," one said. "Everyone is sizing each other up. It's not like a 'real' meeting where you can read the room.”

On the issue of the list plans, he said: “People are wanting do to this for the best of reasons but we are changing the rules after the game has started. It should have been sorted out before the conference.

“Some of these lists are 15 long. Members will think 'why bother voting when the winner's pre-determined?'"

“I could never have predicted the last week," another NEC figure commented.

“I didn't expect the equalities motion to get through, when the legal advice said what it did.

“We had a meeting called under unusual circumstances without explanation, a setting-aside of legal opinion, the surprise dropping of Joanna Cherry.

“It has been a maelstrom of events."

The sacking of Joanna Cherry

The day after that meeting, the SNP issued a press release with the title “Blackford announces SNP reshuffle in Westminster”.

READ MORE: Joanna Cherry: Attempts to smear or intimidate won’t make SNP stronger

The SNP Westminster leader said it would “draw on new talent” and ensure “best possible team” as Scotland faces the challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit.

Four new additions were announced. There was no mention of Cherry in the statement.

She revealed she had been given little warning of being dropped as justice and home affairs spokeswoman, a role she had held for almost six years.

Writing in the National on Friday she said: “I got 30 minutes’ notice of the announcement, no proper explanation of why I was being sacked and no acknowledgement of or any thanks at all for the work I have done in that role over the last five-and-a-half years.”

She invited comparisons with Salmond’s accusation in 2019 that Sturgeon was “rewriting history” after his story was removed from the party website.

Cherry said: “Indeed, the press release announcing the reshuffle was a masterly piece of Stalinist revisionism in which I was not even mentioned. Airbrushed from history. A non-person. Sounds familiar?”

Cherry has been one of Sturgeon’s most vocal internal critics and has been outspoken about concerns over the erosion of women’s rights.

Some sources briefed that MPs had had enough of trying to work with Cherry, accusing her of being disruptive.

An SNP spokesman said in a statement: “Joanna Cherry was removed from the front bench because of unacceptable behaviour, which did not meet the standards expected of a front bench spokesperson – not because of the views she holds.”

“That might be the official line," one MP told us, “but it's hard to be a team player when half of your team is trying to trip you up.”

“You always keep your enemies close,” an MSP commented. “There's something wrong at the top.”

Later on Monday following the reshuffle announcement, Cherry revealed she had contacted police over an alleged threat to her personal safety.

She tweeted: “Action and inaction have consequences. Tonight I’ve received a vicious threat from a man to my personal safety.

“The matter has been reported to Police Scotland and I’m somewhere safe. Thank you for all the lovely messages of support.”

Police have since confirmed a man has been charged with a communications offence in connection with the incident.

Among the many offering their support to Cherry was fellow SNP MP Kirsty Blackman, who said she was “horrified” to hear of the threat.

But Cherry retorted: “Thank you for your concerns but this is what can happen when you rile up your base with lies and smears.”

The two MPs had previously had a public falling out related to the gender identification row.

READ MORE: SNP Women’s Convenor says ‘Women’s Pledge has no intention of bringing down FM’

Indeed much of the infighting in the party has been played out on social media, with politicians and party members on all sides quick to take to Twitter to express their views.

Lockdown tensions

Everyone the Sunday National spoke with suggested that continued social separation due to Covid could be fuelling the social media fire.

But one MP had little sympathy for that, given the trouble it's causing.

“There should be an edict going out to say 'everybody stay off Twitter for a month',” she said.

Meanwhile the sacking of Cherry appeared to prompt another wave of SNP members resigning from the party after an angry backlash from her supporters.

It's not known how many have cut ties, but many shared images of their online resignation form online.

One public declaration included the news that the ex-member had joined the LibDems. Another joined the Greens. Still more said they didn't know where they votes would now go, while others stated they'd continue to back independence and the SNP even if they were no longer a member.

But the party's rules state that anyone seeking readmission after a public resignation must be approved by the NEC.

Sources said that would be viewed “very sympathetically” but that the scale of admin work facing the party means it's “unlikely” that the process would be followed at all. “It's not practical,” one said.

“We've had people saying they're going to cut up their cards before," he went on, “but we have never picked it up on the ground before. In the past they were offset by the weekly churn that we get. This time it's a bit different. It's noticeable activists, people who do go out and chap doors. That's what pushed a lot of MPs and MSPs to take a stance [on the transphobia row].”

But it's understood that the drift varies significantly between branches and regions, as do the reasons behind it.

The hashtag #TheSNPLeftMe gained traction on Twitter this week amongst users critical of the party's handling of trans and women's issues, with some accusing the party of standing by misogyny or stifling debate.

READ MORE: UK Labour LGBT group tries to suspend Scottish wing ahead of leadership vote

An MSP told us her constituency association had shed 500 people in “a couple of years" and an MP told us “I am doing everything I can to get people to stay”.

However, others said their losses were in single digits or had been offset by new sign-ups.

“There are always a couple of branches that get caught up,” one MSP said.

“This hasn't been a bone of contention amongst our branch.

“If you are living in a bubble, you are always right. That's what comes across completely on Twitter – everyone is coming from a position of certitude.”

Another MSP said: “There's a small percentage keeping these flames going. Some are not even SNP members. You have got to ask what their motives are.

“I don't know when it turned to this. The party isn't transphobic, it's not racist – there will be individuals, as there will be individuals in any party or organisation, but nobody that I know.

“Every so often the world goes mad. We get through it. This is one of those things and it's toxic.”

An NEC member voiced frustration that this is headline news while “at a branch level, people are just not interested in this”, with attentions instead on the environment, local by elections, and the council contest in 2022 as well as May's Holyrood race.

There is, he said, a “real danger" of losing “a few percentage points” at the polls in May.

“Members are getting heartsick of elected members who should know better but who are stirring things up,” he said.

“Not every member who leaves is necessarily a bad thing. Good riddance if it's those people on Twitter. It's a tiny segment of the party but they are so vocal. It's a silo but the silo is being powered by some small groups of people and pure negativity.

“The more this spills over into the general public, the more danger we are in. People really need to remember that and stop thinking about themselves. Especially when we are so close to independence.”

READ MORE: SNP launch misinformation training amid concerns of indy-linked fake news

An MSP said she also fears the impact on voting in May. “Everybody's pulling together in Holyrood, working away doing our best, passing legislation, then to have this...” she said. “The grassroots are doing their job while they are fighting over the scraps when the goal is there for independence.

“If this stops us getting in and getting independence, it will never be forgiven.”

Another suggested a growing split between the two parliamentary groups at Holyrood and Westminster, saying that “there's one group that does all the work and runs the country, there's another that has all the time in the world for self-promotion”.

A third said the MSP group are “conducting our challenging discussions in private but the MPs seem to have lost the plot, openly arguing on social media. It's embarrassing”.

“We are working really hard on legislation, trying to make it the best it can be but they are obsessed with this single issue,” she went on. “Owen Thompson put forward a really interesting proposal about tackling cronyism last week. That's the kind of thing we should have our attention on but instead it's this.

“I've never felt so despondent in my life with the party," she went on. “It's not a good time to be an SNP elected representative. It's hard to comprehend why folk are behaving in the way they are. We are our own worst enemy at the moment.”

What happens next?

Attempts have been made to play down the turbulence of the recent events.

“People aren’t fighting,” insisted SNP MP David Linden in radio interview on Thursday. “I think it is the prerogative of the SNP group leader at Westminster to make changes to the team, I think Joanna has been in that role for six years and he has freshened the team up and we are united.”

READ MORE: Labour report calls for Union overhaul to prevent Scottish independence

Dr Peter Lynch, a Scottish political expert at the University of Stirling, said for most of its history, the SNP has endured splits bigger than the current crisis.

He said the part of the division now was in relation to the question of strategy and how to achieve independence - which is “one of the oldest SNP divides”.

“This [current crisis] looks terrible, because the fault lines involve the biggest personalities and are aligned with different issues which are really problematic - and it is played out live on Twitter with regular updates,” he said.

“But let’s say [former SNP leader] Gordon Wilson was still alive and you phoned him up ask how does this compare with the early 1980s - he would have burst out laughing.

“The early 80s after the failure of the 1979 devolution referendum and the SNP’s collapse in '79, that was when you had a big conflict over fundamentalists and gradualists.

“After '79, the SNP had no money, it didn’t have money for staff, it was losing members all over the shop.

“That world compared to now is just completely the opposite, even though the big dividing issue of strategy is still there.”

But he said the issues could potentially have an impact - particularly if the Conservative strategy of amplifying internal tensions within the SNP is successful.

On Thursday Tory Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg heaped praise on Cherry, suggesting she had been sacked “for reasons of internal SNP politicking”.

READ MORE: Jacob Rees-Mogg praises Joanna Cherry's 'courage' after being sacked from front bench

Lynch said: “All those divisions really were terrible for the SNP last time - this time you are not really sure they have made a difference yet.

“The media and the social media environment is pretty toxic, with lots of things going on and people committing things to Twitter that they probably will regret, but the SNP is still sailing along.

“What might happen is it doesn’t get a majority [in the Holyrood election].

“That is a huge problem given everything else they want to follow from getting a majority.”

A tough week ahead The SNP is facing more tricky days ahead. On Monday, the party’s chief executive Peter Murrell - who is also the First Minister’s husband - will give further evidence to the Holyrood committee examining the Scottish Government’s handling of harassment complaints made against Salmond.

Salmond was also due to face the inquiry on Tuesday, but this appearance is in doubt after he said he would need to consult with advisers as the committee refused to publish his allegations that Sturgeon misled parliament.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson's anti-'woke' crusade shows he doesn't understand Yes movement

As claims and counter-claims continue to rage around this and other issues, one NEC member told us that the SNP is guilty of “screw-up rather than conspiracy” over its handling of the past fortnight's rows.

“The video, let's just pour another gallon of petrol on the other smouldering fire," he said. “And after the NEC weekend, jeezo. Then we are going to have Alex centre stage come Tuesday,” he went on. “That will be another pile of shit getting dropped from a very high vantage point. People will be shitting themselves to find out what Alex is going to say.

“The public are probably distant from it, but it's getting a bit harder. It's going to get harder as time goes on.

“Covid has served as a blanket over lots of things. Until we solve that problem everything pales into comparison.”

One council leader said: “We need to absolutely focus on our messages around independence and our good governance and tackling issues like child poverty, the drug problem that we have.

“These are the issues that are actually important to the majority of the population.”

READ MORE: The National launches the Yes Challenge – let’s convince undecided voters to back independence

One former MP says the run-up to the Holyrood elections would be much more difficult for the SNP if it also had “powerful” opposition parties to deal with.

"The SNP doesn't have a free pass but they're in surer circumstances than they could have been in,” he says.

"It's incumbent upon them to do something. I have been racking my brains about what can be done to get us on a much more even keel.

“Unfortunately I have mislaid my magic wand."