Yapping Yousuf has an interesting potential scoop over at his site with a suggestion that an SNP "elected representative" might defect to Labour, of all parties.
I doubt that a man of Yousuf's integrity would get the wrong end of the stick without good reason so I'm hoping it's a councillor or student union leader that the SNP happens to be better off without or someone has simply fed the blogger misinformation.
I certainly can't think of a single MP, MSP or MEP who would leave the SNP when the party's tail is so high and is well placed to achieve its ultimate goal of independence.
It's probably unwise to make predictions of who it may be when the story could amount to nothing but feel free to speculate.
My prediction is a councillor who is relatively unknown with the media dressing it up as the Nationalists' world coming crashing down around their ears.
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Bear in mind, that if the person in question was an MSP, the Government of Scotland would change, which would naturally be a HUGE story.
So huge that it wouldn't be broken by Yousuf on an internet blog, I'd wager.
Panic over, here is something from Yousuf's twitter.
"# Hearing stories of about a story that will make uncomfortable reading for SNP Councillors, more on the blog later about an hour ago"
So its safe to assume its a defection in the wonderful world of local government. How tedious.
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Ancient Roman Lawyer, Writer, Scholar, Orator and Statesman, 106 BC-43 BC)
lol, a rat joining a sinking ship!
"well placed to achieve its ultimate goal of independence".
Care to explain that one Jeff??
Anon 1 & 2, good stuff, I reckon a councillor defecting is barely a story except for special circumstances.
Strong words Anon 3, a person's values and beliefs don't necessarily chime with one party for their entire life so "traitor" could be a bit strong.
Anon 5, you're joking right? A relatively popular SNP Government north of the border with one of Scotland's smartest politicians at the helm and we're on the cusp of a particularly unpopular Tory Government down South.
Granted, polling figures don't point towards indpendence any time soon but let's at least agree, relatively speaking, the SNP are currently "well placed".
Jeff!
Who are all these anonymous people on your blog?
;o)
If an SNP councillor or for that matter, an MSP wants to join the Labour Party . . . the Labour Party FFS! . . . you should wave them on their merry way as they embark upon possibly the shortest part of their political career.
I hope the SNP wipe Labour out in Scotland come the General Election in May.
Not long to go now Labour! . . .you bunch of corrupt, criminal shite bags.
Your post is very anti-councillor indeed - often councillor defections can be easily used in national election campaigns and as we are 3 months away from a GE your estimation of the importance of local government members should be higher!!
I could understand if they were quitting for the SSP, Solidarity, the Greens or going for Independent, but surely abandoning the SNP for a pro-Union party suggests that they weren't that committed to the main tenant of the party in the first place.
It would make sense for a councillor to defect just however. The front page of today's Herald couldn't have made happy reading for SNP councillors. Of course, it's not the SNP's fault that councils are skint - everyone is skint just now and will be for a good few years.
Jo, I certainly didn't mean it to come over that way. I happen to think that councillors should get paid more and have more responsibility so I don't think I have a negative view of councillors at all. In many ways the truly relevant decisions to most people's lives are taken at council level so, as it stands, it is grossly under-rated as it is.
But MSPs legislate for the whole of Scotland and councillors only represent one small ward so in this context we have to keep that in mind. Furthermore, a defection in the Parliament would tip the balance of power into Labour's hands.
To suggest that a councillor defecting is as big a deal as an MSP defecting is surely foolhardy, no?
Two words. Pollok Park. ;-p
Well - the truth seems to be out there: Some unknown coucillor that had been subject to disciplinary proceedings has jumped ship. Presumably before said disciplinary committee delivered a clip round the ear.
Obviously the party is rocked to its foundations or something....
"Mr McNamee, who represents the Blantyre area, cited the decision to axe the proposed Glasgow Airport Rail Link as a crucial factor in his jumping ship, as well as the impact of the global financial collapse on small nations such as Ireland and Iceland, and the release of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi."
Good riddance.
Although an interesting juxtaposition between moaning about us being too small and poor, and not wasting millions on West Coast vanity projects there.
The thought of quiting over a moral decision made by a minister though? That's just laughable. I'm sure Labour front benchers will come down on either side of Margo's bill (as is right) - will he jump ship again?
I wonder what the people of New Zealand and stuff though, think of his attacking of their economy.
Core Skills:
* "Dodgy" expense claims
* "Inappropriate behaviour" at social functions
"Top class CV, son. Just the type of person we're looking for. Welcome to the Labour party."
'Tory MPs tell David Cameron: Cut Scotland's subsidy'
- Most Conservative MPs want David Cameron to cut the amount of taxpayers' money spent in Scotland, new research shows
- Most Tories believe the current devolution settlement giving Scotland its own parliament is unfair to England
Almost three-quarters of Tory MPs say that the way public money is distributed around Britain should be reformed.
And most believe that the current devolution settlement giving Scotland its own parliament is unfair to England and must change
The poll will put pressure on Mr Cameron to cut Scotland’s “subsidy” and give more power to England if he becomes prime minister later this year.
That could raise tensions with the Scottish National Party administration in Edinburgh, which hopes to exploit a Tory Government in London to bolster support for Scottish independence.
The IPPR questioned 114 MPs, around a fifth of the total, and found that the overwhelming majority are dissatisfied with the UK’s current constitutional arrangements.
Seventy two per cent of Tory MPs in the poll said they believe that England is “losing out” because of devolution to Scotland and Wales.
Almost all Conservatives questioned – 94 per cent -- backed a policy “English votes for English laws”, of barring Scottish and Welsh MPs from voting on Commons legislation that affects only England.
England is losing out on about £4.5 billion of public spending every year because the money is handed to Scotland instead, according to Professor David Bell of Stirling University.
... the IPPR poll showed that most MPs – 58 per cent – believe that Scotland will never become independent.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7105228/Tory-MPs-tell-David-Cameron-Cut-Scotlands-subsidy.html
So, by implication, 42% of MPs admit that they believe that Scotland will become independent. Shockingly high, I'd have thought.
"Anon 5, you're joking right? A relatively popular SNP Government north of the border with one of Scotland's smartest politicians at the helm and we're on the cusp of a particularly unpopular Tory Government down South.
Granted, polling figures don't point towards indpendence any time soon but let's at least agree, relatively speaking, the SNP are currently "well placed".
Not joking at all Jeff. The SNP itself may be 'well placed', but your original blogpost seemed to suggest independence was just round the corner, when it self-evidently is not. The polls show that, if anything, fewer Scots want to break up the UK than ever before.
And you rather let the cat out of the bag with your Tories "on the cusp" remark. The world and his wife know that the SNP are desperate for a Tory govt so they can drive a wedge between Scotland and England. But the real story in Scotland post-May 6 will be the massive egg on Alex Salmond's face when his '20 MPs' boast is shown to have been yet more empty rhetoric from the Dear Leader.
"Anon 5, you're joking right? A relatively popular SNP Government north of the border with one of Scotland's smartest politicians at the helm and we're on the cusp of a particularly unpopular Tory Government down South.
Granted, polling figures don't point towards indpendence any time soon but let's at least agree, relatively speaking, the SNP are currently "well placed".
Not joking at all Jeff. The SNP itself may be 'well placed', but your original blogpost seemed to suggest independence was just round the corner, when it self-evidently is not. The polls show that, if anything, fewer Scots want to break up the UK than ever before.
And you rather let the cat out of the bag with your Tories "on the cusp" remark. The world and his wife know that the SNP are desperate for a Tory govt so they can drive a wedge between Scotland and England. But the real story in Scotland post-May 6 will be the massive egg on Alex Salmond's face when his '20 MPs' boast is shown to have been yet more empty rhetoric from the Dear Leader.
Well, I think you're reading far too much into my choice of phrase in that case Anon.
I don't for a second think that independence is "just around the corner" but I do still think the SNP is "well placed" to get there sooner or later. That doesn't mean they will, they just find themselves in a good position. You have to admit there is a decent chance that support from independence could rise significantly once the Tories are in. Support may go down, we don't know, but as positions go, you have to admit the SNP is... well, you get the point.
And the 'cat out of the bag' comment is a bit tiresome. Are you Glen Campbell in disguise?
Of course there are advantages for the SNP if the Tories win but so what? It's not like Salmond & co are out campaigning for Cameron.
Whatever happens happens and Scotland will move on from there as best it can.
No one is pretending that an unpopular (in Scotland) Tory Government won't benefit whichever Party is in Bute House, but that doesn't alter the fact that ordinary SNP members are just as dismayed by the thought of Cameron as PM as Labour or Liberal supporters are.
The SNP are a left of centre, social democratic party. And looking at Labour recently, *the* left wing party of government of Scotland. Of course they will not be welcoming ANY right wing government, nor will they do anything to help them get into power.
To suggest anything differently is utterly, utterly ridiculous, and only shows a base misunderstanding of what the SNP are about.
Usually councillors who change sides do so in a huff. Don't know what's behind this defection and don't really care. It will be something involving throwing toys out of prams.
It's quite silly to say that the SNP want a Tory govt. Scotland won't decide who the next govt are, that's why there is an SNP.
1. Whoever is quoting Cicero ought not to equate party with country. Must we put up with this witless belief that anyone who doesn't support independence is a traitor?
2.Are there many SNP councillors who don't believe in independence? Or just the one?
3. However - not a story, not a 'defection', not a 'capture'. Just the inevitable consequence of a new voting system electing scores of new councillors: many with dubious abilities, little party apparatus to back them and consequently little vetting and weeding carried out.
Plenty of ambitious chancers hopping on board the bandwagon and hopping off as soon as the ride gets bumpy.
4. GARL my arse.
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