It is now common knowledge that the £700,000 raised and ring fenced for an independence referendum by the SNP has been spent. There is no indication exactly where or when this money has been used. We can speculate all day long however it needs the leadership of the party to give a full explanation immediately. Trust has been broken it needs renewed, and quickly. Many of us have been suspicious that this was indeed the case. Nobody more so than the often maligned Stu Campbell over at Wings Over Scotland. For quite sometime now Wings have been warning this was the case. Many called him an enemy of the cause for daring to question the party or the great leader. Today with the publication of the accounts by the Electoral Commission his suspicions are confirmed. Below is the Wings article for those that have not yet read the facts.
Cover ups are usually always more damaging than the actual matter being covered up. Watergate being the most famous in recent history. Immediately confessing is always the best course of action. Yet time after time individuals and organisations take the opposite view. They always end up costing themselves more in the long run. The tobacco companies in USA for years tried to deny that smoking had any harmful health side effects. When they could no longer deny reality, the court cases nearly bankrupted them and only mergers and drastic action saved many of them from extinction.
This latest scandal at the SNP comes at the same time as they are trying to cover up their involvement in a possible conspiracy against Alex Salmond. The Holyrood Inquiry into this has become a daily soap opera of lies and denials as civil servants and officers of the party try to rewrite or deny their actions. Never has there been so many forgetful people involved in one organisation. With each lie or denial it just adds fuel to the fire that the suspicions of many are correct. Many of us believe there was a conspiracy by those high up inside the SNP to fit up the former First Minister. The lies and forgetfulness seem to confirm our belief. Worst of all this dishonesty is giving the Unionists open goals!
The ridiculous thing in all this is that none of the actions taken were either necessary or beneficial to the SNP. I could write several blogs on the matters relating to the former First Minister and the attempts by the SNP to ‘fit him up.’ The explanation most suggest is that the leadership within the party were concerned that Alex was using his RT programme as some sort of launch pad to return to front-line politics and reclaim the Party leadership. This was never the case, however the amateurs in Charlotte Sq. were convinced that was the plan. I will be as kind as I can with the conspirators and suggest this explanation. A few not very talented Spads and officials drunk on too many episodes of West Wing hatched a plot they thought was foolproof. Sadly it was actually a plan devised by fools.What started out as a scheme to scare off any notion of a comeback by the former leader ended by blowing up in their faces. Part of their dastardly plan was to distance the leadership and present Party Leader from any involvement in the conspiracy. They instructed their civil servants to construct a complaints procedure that had the sole intention of netting only one person, Alex Salmond. They also tried to construct the procedure in a manner the First Minister could have deniability. The process was so inept that their ham fisted attempts have had the exact opposite effect. The First Minister’s finger prints are all over this action.
As the Holyrood Inquiry is exposing daily, the civil servants tasked with carrying out the character assassination are more like characters out of a Carry On movie than Machiavellian Svengalis from House of Cards. Forevermore Evans and MacKinnon will be known as the Laurel & Hardy of conspiracies. Should they ever get around to writing a memoir may I suggest the following title, Conspiracies for Dummies.
Here’s the rub, even if Alex had attempted a comeback Nicola Sturgeon was so popular he would have failed in any attempt to replace her. Now, it is a different matter. The actions of herself and her entourage make her departure likely. Her own stupidity in agreeing to this attack on a much loved ex-leader and her husband’s incompetence in running the party machine will be her undoing.
The SNP Government have done everything possible to hobble the inquiry. Withholding documents, emails and texts vital to the case. Telling downright lies has also been a daily occurrence. The Civil Servants attached to the SNP Government are also hiding behind all sorts of legal shenanigans to protect their part in this entire farce.One even refusing to appear in person.
Now today yet another piece of inconvenient truth emerges. £700,000 raised from the SNP membership for the specific purpose of fighting an independence referendum has vanished. These funds were supposedly ring-fenced to fight the holy grail for the contributors. We can once again only speculate where those funds have gone. The Party certainly is top heavy with some very highly paid individuals. This blog has tried to understand why the Party requires a CEO, a COO as well as a team of in-house lawyers yet still find the need to spend huge sums of money on outside legal advice. The salary bill does seem excessive for such a small number of employees.
There is some that suggest that three UK General Elections, an EU Election and referendum in the past three years put a huge strain on the party’s finances. That may indeed be the explanation to the disappearance of the £700k. Elections are not cheap. Should that prove to be the case then heads should roll, not for the wrongdoing but for stupidity.
What the YES Movement has shown time after time is the desire to fund causes they believe are beneficial to independence. Wings Over Scotland, Martin Keatings, Clara Ponsatí, Mark Hirst, Craig Murray, Alex Salmond Court case. All of these individuals and causes were quickly able to raise necessary funding when they asked the independence minded for funds.
Had the Party leadership explained to the members that they needed to use the ring fenced monies or needed additional funding it would have been forthcoming. Sadly since Nicola Sturgeon became leader she and her husband it seems decided transparency was no longer something they wanted or deemed necessary. Accountability it seems is not for them. The abolition of National Council being a case in point.This action was taken, and we have never received a half decent explanation as to why the leadership deemed it necessary. They traded on the unquestioned trust of the membership. ‘If Nicola thinks it is a good idea, it must be a good idea.’ That has been the case on so many things by so many people. I have a feeling that is now a thing of the past. This was the members best forum to question the party. Secrecy in everything they do seems to be the order of the day for the leadership. The creeping hand of the GRA zealots taking over the party apparatus in such a manner that the ordinary members were unaware till after the event. Meetings in secret, NEC minutes locked up tighter than MI5 files. Rule changes never getting as far as conference. MPs being ham strung over standing for Holyrood. Complaints from ordinary members not even acknowledged let alone investigated. Candidate vetting operating almost in secret gerrymandered to suit one single issue group.
The SNP is run like a Soviet Bloc Communist Party with denouncements and secrecy that would have embarrassed Stalin. Any female signing the Women’s Pledge is deemed impure and not fit to stand as an SNP candidate. That the supposed party of independence has not even discussed independence at NEC for 18 months sums up exactly where the party is at present.
Today’s revelations will upset many. The messengers will be blamed for the actions of the incompetents. The truth does hurt, however, it has to be faced. Those that we entrusted as custodians of the Party have proved not be up to the task. We need a clear out and to bring in fresh thinking and ideas. I am not a lawyer. I have no idea if the ring fenced money being used elsewhere is a crime or not. I do though know that when trust goes it is very difficult to get it back. Peter Murrell and the others allegedly running the party need to go immediately. They have harmed the party and the cause. They have broken the trust bestowed upon them, that is unforgivable. The Party Leader needs to face the party at Conference and explain in full her part in all this chicanery. No more cover ups, no more lies, no more games. You either put the party back on track or you delay our independence possibly by decades. It is high time the SNP got back to trusting their members with the truth and not relying on a cabal of incompetents that have harmed the cause. No more excuses Nicola fire him and Ruddick today!
Excellent summation of the present state of the SNP, the leadership and the cause of independence. The only thing I would expand on is that Sturgeon herself must go or no matter what measures are put in place such as the sacking of her husband she will always be tainted by the very reasons for making such changes.
The article by Wings shows the Emporer has no clothes and the SNP have no funds when you factor in the supposed ring-fenced £70,000.
Thing is that these figures ( if at all accurate in the first place ) are only up to last December, If I were an SNP member I would be demanding an up to date 9-month set. This will reflect better the position now which will take into account the dissatisfaction surrounding things like the evidence presented in the ongoing investigation into the debacle that was the Scottish governments case in the Judicial review case, GRE reform, the hate crime bill and the debacle surrounding the NEC together will recent revelations of two law companies being employed to dig Peter Murrel out of the hole he dug for himself All of which are causing a drop in revenue.
A very concise and needed contribution to the independence cause, keep it up
We are sleep walking back to a victorian era. aye there’ll be a 2 tier system alright. The elites and the rest of us scrambling for food. It wasn’t that long ago Priti Patel wanted to bring back the death penalty. These people truly are degenerate psychopaths ( just with posh accents ). Time for banging pots and pans outside Bute House anyone ? maybe it’s the only way the SNP will listen and get a move on with what we voted them in for in the 1st place ! ( we could do it in groups of 6, keeping 2 meters apart x 100,00 groups ) Sorry but marches are a waste of time now, marching to nowhere important and they get ignored anyway. Lets keep these politicians awake every night, outside their homes until they Declare Scotland has left the Union. We have a clear majority now, the UK Gov are breaking treaty laws by the second, we wouldn’t be breaking any by
leaving. SO WHAT IS THE HOLD UP ?
Getting beyond a joke now, and the silence as usual will be deafening.
Yes and it is not only the official SNP. Scot goes pop (James Kelly) has been very silent on these matters and has now stopped any posts BTL on his blog.
Sadly Roddy,I think we both know the messenger will be shot repeatedly. But worse probably the membership will turn a blind eye to corrupt shenanigans. Imo the only people who can save the snp and our chances of freedom ,are AS and JC.
Tony, it is up to the SNP membership to sort out this mess that they allowed to happen by being lazy and just saying we trust our great leader. It has been nothing less than a takeover of the SNP by people who care nothing for independence.
How long before someone comes along and says Nicola has the £700k stashed away in her purse in her handbag alongside her secret plan for independence.
If a decent NEW leadership is put in place that actually wants independence I am 100% sure replacement funds will be forthcoming from independence supporters. By decent I mean no one involved in the Salmond scandal. I will be happy to contribute more funds if a decent leadership is in place. If it is the current mob – not a penny more from me.
Are British Secret Service agents involved more than likely.
Well it seems I got it wrong – the missing money is not in Sturgeons handbag it is the SNP treasurers bottom desk drawer.
Woven through the accounts says the treasurer – like weaving a pack of lies. It’s not ring fenced if it is being used for ongoing activities.
I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again. I am sick of living in a country that is covered with wall to wall lies from the Britnats. I am not going to accept it from the SNP.
Especially when the accounts only show around £97000 in cash. That’s a lot of missing weaving!
The SNP used to have chronic debt serviced with commercial loans.
The Treasurer’s explanation of the Fund money being ‘woven into’ the SNP accounts essentially admits that rather than having commercial loans AND a big savings account the money has been netted off to leave £97,000 cash.
Although efficient, this is not what donors expected -effectively a huge unsecured interest free loan to the SNP general funds which is not due to be repaid until IndyRef.
The Treasurer seems confident that the Referendum Funds can be reconstructed, presumably by returning to commercial loans or maybe an expected huge donation (Great Expectations?).
The set up also creates a perverse financial disincentive to going ahead with IndyRef.
This must be sorted.
Sadly, I can see evidence that cabal members are being lined up for NEC posts to replace those discredited by recent shenanigans. Roger Mullin’s plan is a start but this gang are ruthless.
Please be very careful with your vote for NEC
We need NC back.
Thanks Barrhead Boy for an honest, albeit painful, assessment
absolutely with you there, no more for SNP until this is sorted, and all the alphabet crew cleansed..
It’s been apparent for at least three years now that a major clear out of the Stalinist tendencies needs to be undertaken and that the mantra of pointless secrecy needs to end as its an open goal to the unionists and let’s idiots like Willie Rennie sound sensible .First time l really noticed it was the the Hebridean ferry debacle when a wee bit of honesty would have gone a long way .
Yes the truth has to come out, but I fear more cover ups and chicanery and more lies. This whole sorry episode fills me with dread about the future. This is a mess of epic proportion and falls at the feet of one person NS, she needs to go, Murrel needs to go, and all those angry aggressive GRA nuts, who are causing so much pain need to go. If we don’t clear out the cancer now it will kill Independence for the foreseeable future. Great piece.
Very well written and glad you see what many of us see.
Also good that you have come out with an article on this topic saying similar to Wings.
Hopefully some of Nicola’s fan club will waken up from the dream and see her cabal undermine Independence.
The only question now is. How in God’s name is Murrell still there.
Where are all the MP’s and MSP’s demanding his resignation. If you aren’t willing to expose this cesspit of corruption, then you need to consider your moral compass.
If Murrell and Surgeon stay on. Then they will never be able to raise another penny from the members. It’s now impossible for them to stay in charge.
Without funding , nothing can be achieved. This may explain why Mr Weir stopped donating to the SNP before he sadly died.
Explains a lot, doesn’t it? Thank heavens we are seeing through this stuff now rather than later. There is still time to sort this stuff out but it cannot be left to fester or the SNP will be finished and, with them, independence.
Still time, folks, you who can, to donate to the For Women Scotland crowdfunding. Quite close now for this test case. Just as in Alex Salmond’s case (the judicial review) the Scottish government is wrong in its approach – and not just wrong, but illegal. It is acting ultra vires by ignoring existing legislation, just as it did in the AS situation. They chose the wrong person to pick on, in AS, and they are doing the same with women. In both instances, they have bitten off more than they can chew. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have come through a lifetime of (decidedly not chosen) sex-based discrimination, gynaecological problems, miscarriage, childbirth and female cancer, and no male bodied person (or female supporter, or ‘woke’ government, for that matter) is going to tell me that his experience of womanhood is more valid than mine and that I should just shut up and let him trample my rights underfoot.
By the way, BB, having a plethora of brainless females is no more equal than having a plethora of brainless males. I hope we go forward with the actual best of both sexes, all genders, colours, creeds, abilities, etc., not with those who can brown nose the best or who have the ‘right’ genitalia at any given moment. Equality and respect for all.
“I think we should put a rope around Sturgeon and drag her through the streets of Glasgow so everyone can see her shame”, was written in another Indy Supporting blog last week.
A comment that even on the SIU web site would in the past have caused uproar but not it seems on an Indy site.
People by all means have your purge but please give up your magical thinking that you will live to see Independence unless you are in your 20s and even then I cant see Westminster not making sure that it is never allowed to start again.
If you do not recognise that Nicola Sturgeon is the sole reason we have any prospect of Indy then you are sadly misguided its not Salmond or Cherry or any of the others nor do any within the party look like they would gain the trust of the electorate following a massively aired show trial of the FM nor is it Boris or Brexit alone, its Nicola Sturgeon standing up most days and leading the country to the admiration of your fellow Scots.
BBC Scotland and the worlds media and all the other political parties across the U&K would use the ages long witch trial that you seem to want to nail Indy.
Do you all want another 19/09/14 because that’s what you sure as hell sound as if you do?
Moreover please don’t fantasize that a new purer party would emerge that was instantly electable. It wouldn’t all that would emerge was splinter parties all vying with each other as to who was the true believer and all scrabbling for votes.
Holyrood would be further emasculated if it even survived and we would run the risk of another Lib Lab pact so instead of Nicola you’d get Rennie and Baillie.
Hell mend you if you think another 30 to 40 years in the wilderness is worth the risk.
If you destroy the SNP you destroy any hope of Indy its a venal dangerous fantasy to believe otherwise.
The people that have caused all the ills of the party are the leadership. Your undying unwavering adulation of the Leader is the reason that the party is in such a state. As to your complete and utter nonsense that without Nicola Sturgeon there will be no independence is just unadulterated claptrap. The SNP are not the independence movement. I have not advocated removing NS I have suggested removing her entourage. That said with or without her we will have our independence. You make the same mistake as Unionists in believing that somehow an individual is pivotal in the march to independence.Absolute nonsense! With or without her the movement will prevail.
I agree that independence doesn’t rely on Nicola Sturgeon or her cabal, BB, but, at least for the moment, it does rely on the SNP. The membership and the wider movement need to pile the pressure on to them to make an election win the basis for an immediate move to independence. If they don’t, we are all going to have to remove our votes from the SNP or insist that we will give no more support until independence is delivered.
Someone wrote in The National today (Thursday) that the new parties are hampering the SNP 1-2 vote and that they need to have an alliance and understanding with he SNP. Too right. It is up to the SNP to put out feelers now and create the conditions necessary for harvesting every possible vote in both parts of the vote by allying with these list parties to create one massive, unstoppable independence movement for May, 2021. If they don’t, that will mean just one thing: that they have no intention of doing anything other than offering the same old platitudes, taking yet another mandate and doing sweet Fanny Adams with it.
As for The National, it is becoming more and more just a Sturgeon administration mouthpiece instead of a truly reflective media organ that can reflect all the views across the independence spectrum. Did anyone else notice that the piece by Stephen Paton on trans rights is still being given prominence with no comments allowed? Almost 90 per cent off the population is totally opposed to the GRA reform and the accompanying ‘hate crime’ legislation, but they don’t count, apparently. I think the clear-out is going to take a helluva lot more than a few protests.
Bryan, can I suggest you actually look at the info/documents being made available by the Parliamentary Inquiry for yourself. For example you will see that Sturgeons private Secretary Somers met with the two complainers in Nov 2017 twice. It was not just MacKinnon who met with them. Indeed, a further person in addition to Somers met with the complainers in the second meeting. Sturgeon knew all about the complaints long before she said. She lied and she lied. This is evidenced in the letter by Fabiani to Sturgeons Chief of Staff Liz Lloyd in a letter sent today.
We are sleep walking back to a victorian era. aye there’ll be a 2 tier system alright. The elites and the rest of us scrambling for food. It wasn’t that long ago Priti Patel wanted to bring back the death penalty. These people truly are degenerate psychopaths ( with posh accents ). Is it time for banging pots and pans outside Bute House ? maybe it’s the only way the SNP will listen and get a move on with what we voted them in for in the 1st place ! ( we could do it in groups of 6, keeping 2 meters apart x 100,000 groups ) Sorry but marches are a waste of time now, marching to nowhere important and they get ignored anyway. Lets keep these politicians awake every night, outside their homes until they Declare Scotland has Left the Union. We have a clear majority now, the UK Gov are breaking treaty laws by the second, we wouldn’t be breaking any by leaving. SO WHAT IS THE HOLD UP ? and what can the people do now ? Any suggestions ? I like Iceland’s tactics.
There is actually a regular poster on Scot Goes Pop called Scottish Skier who says he is an SNP member and there is nothing wrong with spending actual funds raised for a specific purpose ( indyref) on other things and saying we can get lending facilities if we ever need the money in future. He also says anyone who asks questions about the accounts is a Unionist.
Well if this person is representative of most SNP members then we will never get independence. Is this where the mentality of SNP members are? It’s like a bloody cult to me. Don’t question the leadership!
Meanwhile on that other independence blog WGD the new moderator of the Church of Scotland is a Lib Dem Lord and Britnats are really really bad.
Unbelievable.
The SNP leadership who has frittered away at this apparently ring fenced money, should be held accountable for these sums, plus interests, as it could have been invested, or face the legal consequences. Sadly the Political police Scotland can’t do anything without being told to do so. Slaves to a cabal!