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Scottish government coalition dissolved (25/4/24)

I mean, politics is show business for ugly people. But I just wish I were saying that from an independent country.
 
Looks like Salmond may have tried to overplay his hand

Humza Yousaf rules out pact with Alex Salmond's Alba party​


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.
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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.
 
Silas Loom said:
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.
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I did wonder this - that there could be some play for Ash Regan between the Tory VoNC in Yousaf personally, and the Labour VoNC in the SNP government - that if another SNP leader, perhaps one less sensitive to some of the stuff that was being driven by the Greens (but not just the greens, obviously..) came along, Regan might row back onto the SNP...?

I'm not sure I see a future in Government with Alba for Regan, but we're she to return to the fold, with the Kings evil counsellors cast out, there could be satisfied honour all round, and for the SNP, Alba turned into an extra-parliamentary pressure group...

Is this a runner? 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?
 
Yousaf going does the following:

1. sinks the opposition "votes of confidence" and denies them weeks of crowing over an SNP scalp
2. relegates "Ash Reagan" back to the obscurity of a pub quiz question in reserve

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.

For those nonplussed by the split, Alba is the direct nationalist equivalent of Tommy Sheridan's "Solidarity" ego-vehicle, which is now defunct, and bizarrely Tommy himself has joined Alba. Just like Tommy, for some Alec Salmond can do no wrong, was the victim of an MI5 / Special Branch / media stitch up and corrupt cover up.

--

Remember, a week ago Yousaf was a First Minister with problems, but still a First Minister not facing immediate challenges to his leadership.

Here we are a week later with him at the end of a plank he and he alone decided to walk. It staggers me how shit at politics some people who reach the highest office are.
 
Last edited:
kebabking said:
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?
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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.
 
steeplejack said:
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.
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Yup.
 
going

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www.bbc.co.uk

  1. Scottish National Party leader Humza Yousaf is set to resign, BBC News understands
  2. The first minister will make a statement at Bute House in Edinburgh at 12.00 BST
 
A380 said:
Has he resigned yet?
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Yep.

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.
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skyscraper101 said:
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.
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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.
 
Sure I mean I know nothing about him, just heard a couple of soundbytes of him speaking. He could well be a dud of course, he didn't exactly beam charisma either. TBH I'd prefer someone more like Mhairi Black, but not sure if she ever intends to stand as an MSP.
 
steeplejack said:
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.
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Which if Murrell and/or Sturgeon are charged would mean Swinney spending all his time explaining and or justifying doing hee haw whilst they did whatever they could be accused of. The SNP.Sturgeon and Co are to blame for this given their utter adherence to the cult of McPersonality and the need to control everyone and everyone to nod when Nicolas speaks. The utter lack of any serious politicians in Holyrood, MacCaskill now in Alba (aye he is a fud but he at least has some politics and a history and seriousness and Flynn being esconced there too) was never planned for because it expected it would be conveyor belt Sturgeon continuity candidates and the membership would roll over. The very fact that serious SNP players have instantly looked at Swinney shows how utterly empty they are as a party in that they look to a candidate who was the leader whilst the SNP slumped in support, but he is one of their own, so he is a safe pair of hands for them.
It is both laughable, ie funny as fuck watching the SNP in such a shitstorm but tragic in that it will have wider, negative effects, on the Independence movement and cause.
What was that about first as tragedy and then as farce......
 
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