Ding ding ding! All is not well in the SNP as the Nats are back to fighting among themselves over the issue of double jobs. Last week Westminster leader Stephen Flynn announced that he will stand in the 2026 Holyrood election – and, if successful, he will also continue on in his existing MP role. But the move has sparked outrage among previous and current nationalist politicians alike, with anonymous briefings and social media attacks throwing the party into yet another civil war. Oh dear…
Flynn’s plan to stand for the Aberdeen South and North Kincardine seat has not been universally welcomed – not least given the incumbent SNP MSP Audrey Nicoll is also hoping to stand again. Nationalist politician Emma Roddick was quick to react to the news, telling the Holyrood Sources podcast on Wednesday: ‘You cannot, I think, serve with a straight face if you have made clear to your constituents – one way or the other – that this role is your second choice.’
More than that, she took to Twitter to publicly urge Flynn to ‘rethink’ his decision. Not that this was the only controversial aspect of her post – it later transpired that Roddick had attempted to style her tweet like an acrostic poem, ensuring the first letter of each line spelled out ‘pr**k’. So much for grown up politics, eh?
In retaliation to Roddick’s reaction, an SNP source hit back in the Scottish Mail on Sunday, remarking rather scathingly:
This is just rank hypocrisy from a rubbish MSP who has achieved nothing and has everything to lose from a more talented class of SNP politicians coming through to shake up Holyrood and inject a bit of imagination and life where lazy MSPs like her have so badly failed.
Don’t hold back! Cabinet ministers have also waded into the row, with social justice secretary and close Nicola Sturgeon ally Shirley-Anna Somerville tweeting furiously:
Wee message to everyone who is briefing against folk today [Sunday] either on social media or to journos who are not friends to our party or our cause: stick your papers in if you want to and then get yer walking boots on and help out at a by-election… Leave yer ego to the side for the benefit of a cause much bigger than any of us.
Talk about ruffled feathers, eh? Blasting the social justice secretary’s intervention as ‘sanctimonious’, ex-SNP MP Joanna Cherry KC responded shortly: ‘The party machine, staffers and HQ have being briefing relentlessly against those who dared to question inaction on independence, and poor policy choices and delivery for years.’ Ouch. The gloves are coming off…
For his part, the SNP’s Westminster leader insisted on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show that ‘of course’ he thinks Holyrood needs him at the next election, adding: ‘There’s always going to be a strong reaction to someone seeking to do things slightly differently – I’ve experienced this before in politics.’
It’s certainly not the first time Flynn has found himself at the centre of SNP controversy, after the current Westminster leader ousted his predecessor Ian Blackford from the top job in 2022. And Flynn has grander plans still, with Steerpike’s sources insisting the Aberdeen South MP aspires to become SNP leader – and Scotland’s First Minister – in the future. Meanwhile party insiders tell Mr S that even before the election, SNP MPs were becoming increasingly frustrated with the performance of the Holyrood group. Could this be the start of a much bigger party reset? Watch this space…
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