Beyond Murrell: The five mistakes that broke the SNP

WITH THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY‘S POLITICAL STANDING at its lowest ebb for decades and the Scottish independence movement now holed below the waterline by the Murrell embezzlement scandal, it is worth looking beyond the current political fallout and examining some of the areas where the SNP clearly went wrong in the past.

Having been an SNP member myself in the early years of the restored Scottish Parliament, and then a close observer of the Scottish political scene, I think there have been five clear strategic mistakes the party has made which have led to it being less successful than many of us once thought it would be.

The first of these, paradoxically, was being too successful in Scottish Parliamentary elections and eventually forming successive Scottish governments, either as a minority administration or in coalition with the Scottish Green Party.

Electoral success led to a loss of focus; the SNP’s primary purpose, that of achieving Scottish independence, became lost in the plethora of government responsibilities. It lost its raison d’etre amongst the humdrum activities of being the administration, and thereby lost its drive. George Robertson was right; devolution killed the Scottish independence movement stone dead, although perhaps not in the way he imagined.

Yes, I know that Alex Salmond’s idea was to demonstrate competence in devolved government and persuade the electorate that the same competence could be replicated by the government of a sovereign, independent state. But they blew it. The SNP’s record has been underwhelming, to put it kindly, and that particular strategy failed.

Next, in my opinion, was the party’s decision not to contest any elections outwith Scotland. While I think I understand the rationale behind “Scotland’s Party” only standing candidates north of the Border, in retrospect this was a mistake.

There was a time, now probably past, when there was a certain amount of sympathy for the SNP and Scottish independence in the north of England, parts of London populated by the Scots diaspora, and elsewhere – Corby in Northamptonshire, with its large Scottish expatriate community, springs to mind.

Again, these days are probably gone now, but the SNP really should have contested selected constituencies in England. It would have enlarged its political footprint in the UK and garnered additional support. Why they chose not to only they will know, but it was a missed opportunity on multiple occasions.

the party allowed itself to turn into a gerontocracy

Likewise, the party’s inability or unwillingness to take seats in the House of Lords in Westminster has proved self-defeating. While, as befits a centre-left socialist party the distaste for that second chamber is understandable, it has denied the SNP a valuable platform for its political ideology and agenda. In many ways it cut off their nose to spite its face, and it was a decision spurred more by emotion than political pragmatism.

Next, the SNP’s attitude towards nuclear weapons, and in particular its declared policy of removing the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent based at Faslane and Coulport on the Clyde if Scottish independence is achieved, has been another millstone around its neck. The party’s pathological antipathy to all things nuclear seems to have grown out of its early association with the CND movement, from which many of its foot soldiers emerged in the 1960s and 70s.

Previously, the party adopted an anti-NATO stance because it deemed it a “nuclear-led alliance”, but that policy was changed in 2012 after much soul-searching. Even then, however, its position lacked credibility and was a definite vote loser. Unfortunately, the SNP has yet to realise that its current anti-nuclear policy would almost certainly prevent an independent Scotland joining NATO. The United States, for one, has indicated that it would block access to the Alliance if such a policy were implemented.

Finally, for our purposes here anyway, the party allowed itself to turn into a gerontocracy. Many of the MSPs who have just stood down last month in the Scottish Parliamentary elections were of the “Class of ‘99”, those elected way back when the Parliament reopened in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh. Indeed some are still hanging on, current First Minister John Swinney among them.

Twenty-five years as an MSP is far too long for anybody to hold on to that position and most, if not all, should have made way for younger minds long ago. A maximum of ten years – two Parliamentary terms – should be more than enough. After this time, many incumbents are spent and merely hanging on to their jobs. Not that there is any guarantee that the new intake will be any better. In fact, they may be worse.

Be that as it may, I believe these are five strategic mistakes the SNP has made over the past quarter-century. There are others, of course. I have not mentioned the defenestration of Alex Salmond and the Stalinist removal of all reference to him on the SNP website. Even his detractors agree that he represented the party’s best chance of delivering independence, and yet they turned against him.

Now the SNP is on the back foot, desperately trying to extricate itself from the Murrell scandal. The schadenfreude among its political rivals is off the scale, and there is growing suspicion that more bad news is yet to come. Is Swinney the right man to put the party back on track? I have my doubts.