So now we know: Scotland will get its new leader on 27 March. The rules that will determine how Sturgeon’s successor – and Scotland’s sixth First Minister – will be chosen, were thrashed out by the party’s National Executive Committee on Thursday night.
Nominations are now open and will close a week today. The ballot will then open to members on 13 March followed by a fortnight of voting. The election will take just over five weeks – half the length of the SNP’s last contested election when Alex Salmond returned to power in 2004. Candidates will need to win the backing of 100 members from at least 20 branches in order to make it onto the ballot.
Last night the NEC also postponed the ‘special democracy conference’ where it was set to rubber stamp Sturgeon’s plan for a ‘de facto’ indyref at the next UK general election. It had been due to take place on 19 March.
Former leader and Sturgeon’s right hand man John Swinney ruled himself out on Thursday saying that a ‘fresh perspective’ needed to emerge. Holyrood watchers thought him a shoo-in if he had decided to run. His decision not to makes it a wide open race.
As nominations opened ‘a friend’ of Health Secretary Humza Yousaf told the Daily Record that he would be putting his hat in the ring. No one has officially declared yet but bookies favour Angus Robertson (who’s returning from a Spanish holiday) to succeed to the leadership post. Kate Forbes, the finance secretary who originally opposed the Gender Recognition Reform Bill before missing the crucial vote due to maternity leave is also expected to put her hat in the ring. You can track the latest odds every day on the Spectator’s data hub.
Ash Regan, the minister who resigned to vote against the GRR bill, is also expected to run though party sources don’t rate her chances. Regan and others have called for members who have left the party in recent years – many over the party's stance on trans rights – to be allowed to rejoin and cast a vote. However, SNP National Secretary, Lorna Finn, declared 15 February (the day Sturgeon quit) as the cut-off date for members joining.
Another candidate seen as an outside shot, Joanna Cherry, ruled herself out yesterday saying: ‘The gerrymandering of the rules for Holyrood selection before the last Scottish election have made it a practical impossibility for me to [run].' Backbencher Pete Wishart commented: ‘I guess we’ll all just have to live with this crushing news and move on…’ with Cherry responding that he was a ‘sad old has been’ before going on to accuse unnamed male colleagues of ‘lesbophobia’. Scotland could be in for an entertaining few weeks.
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