Yeah, sorry about that
Tbf I got as far as Wee Free but couldn't actually remember her name.Yeah, sorry about that
Scotland's first minister is ruling out an electoral pact with Alex Salmond's Alba party, BBC News has been told. Mr Salmond suggested Alba could support Humza Yousaf in a confidence vote if the SNP co-operated to maximise the number of pro-independence parliamentarians. A source close to Mr Yousaf said the SNP leader would not agree to such a deal at Westminster or Holyrood. "An electoral pact with Alba is a fantasy," said the source.
Oh that has to go to the LD shit thread - its a perfect picture of them
Oh that has to go to the LD shit thread - its a perfect picture of them
According to The Times & Politics UK, Humza may go as early as tomorrow, now believing (rightly) that his position is no longer defensible.
If Kate Forbes wins a leadership contest, might that tempt Ash Regan back into the SNP fold? I assume that no SNP leader is going to be able to make a deal with Alba itself.
Well, obviously I don’t actually know, so the following is guessing what’s in other people’s heads, but I think the Sturgeon faction was genuinely socially liberal. The question now is whether there is another faction ready to move into power in the party, and what it coalesces around. I think the socially conservative malcontents left to follow Salmond, and I don’t see any signs that there is anything to tempt them back into the SNP at the moment. What might would be a more fundamentalist pro Indy approach. But from whom? At this point we don’t know. Perhaps ironically, at the moment it looks to an outsider like their most competent players are in Westminster rather than Holyrood.How much of the stuff that Regan objected to was deeply held within the SNP, and how much was done to satisfy the Greens by the Sturgeon/Yousaf leadership coterie?
Yup.Reagan is a throwback to the socially conservative right wing nationalism pre-1990, a constituency now covered by Alba, it's once-important-now-disgraced leader, and its ageing membership. The constituency is also represented by Winnie Ewing's clan. Not sure Reagan will be welcomed back into the party owing to perceived disloyalty and Alba being a cult-like sheet of electoral asbestos.
Has he resigned yet?
Presumably.Yousaf's resignation presumably won't stop the VoNC in the government...
Has he resigned yet?
Yousaf promises to support the party from the backbenches
Addressing his SNP "family", Yousaf says: "I will always be with you, campaign alongside you."
He acknowledges that while there have been some setbacks the fight "must continue".
He adds that a referendum on Scottish independence from the UK "feels frustratingly close", adding that the "last few miles of the marathon are always tough", but whoever he hands the baton on to will get the party over the line on a range of issues he hasn't been able to.
Yousaf promises to continue supporting the party from the backbenches.
Forbes was dreadful in the last leadership contest. One of the most amateur hour politicians I've ever seen. Looks like It'll be Swinney anyway, who a least sounds intelligent when he speaks.
given the upcoming court case, would be an ideal opportunity to not do that and clean houseSwinney is just the next available continuity Sturgeon candidate.
But came across as a voter-repellent weirdo last time he held the top job (2000-2004) and resigned after presiding over a disastrous collapse in SNP support. Will be surprised if he's prepared to put himself forward for the role unless the other candidates are fundamentalists / crazies. Not many of those left in the SNP now apart from Forbes.
Swinney does seem a decent man but he's not a modern political leader. Plus far too closely associated with the Sturgeon era as a loyal deputy throughout.
I am going to have a T-shirt printed with this on itI mean, politics is show business for ugly people.