London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

SNP leadership: SNP in 'tremendous mess', interim chief says

SNP leadership: SNP in 'tremendous mess', interim chief says

There is "tremendous mess" in the SNP over the party's leadership race, the new interim chief executive has said.

SNP President Mike Russell, who stepped in to replace outgoing Peter Murrell, said the voting process must go ahead regardless.

Mr Murrell resigned on Saturday after taking responsibility for misleading the media on party membership numbers.

All three candidates vying for the leadership of the SNP have pledged to reform its operations.

Mr Murrell, who is married to outgoing party leader Nicola Sturgeon, resigned with immediate effect on Saturday, saying he had become a distraction to the leadership race.

He had been set to face a vote of no confidence by the National Executive Committee (NEC) had he not stepped down, the BBC has been told.

His resignation came a day after that of Murray Foote, the SNP's head of media at Holyrood. He had previously described press reports about the membership numbers as "inaccurate" and "drivel".

However, an NEC source told the BBC Mr Foote had been "thrown under the bus" by Mr Murrell.

The party this week confirmed there had been a big drop in membership numbers.

Speaking on BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show, Mr Russell said the SNP was "basically a good party" but things had gone "spectacularly wrong in recent weeks".

He said: "I think it is fair to say there is a tremendous mess and we have to clear it up, and that's the task I'm trying to take on in the short term."

Peter Murrell said he had become a distraction to the leadership race


Mr Russell said the most important thing now was that "they have a fair electoral process that produces a clear accepted outcome".

"We have got to have this concluded in the next eight days and then... the new leader has to look at the party and say let's rebuild this and let's rebuild the trust of Scotland."

He added: "This has not been an edifying process. There hasn't been a contested leadership in the SNP for 19 years, and it shows."

Mr Russell said he did not know that the SNP membership numbers had dropped by about a third over about two years, and said he did not know if it was related to the controversial Gender Recognition Reform bill.

"We were losing members and we were losing members that we should have known about, absolutely," he said.

"We were clearly not told about that. That is something I want to know why that took place, but I don't want to know it this week.

"What I want to know this week is we have got a process we can complete and can get a new leader of the party."


'Put integrity, honesty at the heart'


Two of the leadership candidates, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan, last week questioned the independence of the election process.

On Sunday, Ms Forbes said future decisions had to be made by "a big team" rather than a few people.

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she said SNP members wanted to know that the institution was democratic.

"There have been questions around, for example, the membership numbers that we've been looking for answers to," she said.

"I think at the heart of this is that the decisions within the SNP have been taken by too few people and I think that's well recognised across the political domain."

She added that members felt disempowered from the process.

"I think within government we need to make sure that it's a wide tent with a big team, rather than a very few people making decisions," Ms Forbes said.

She said she favoured a different approach to leading the party.

"We have a self-professed continuity candidate who says that he's going to keep doing the same things, and my response to that would be, you do the same things and get the same results," Ms Forbes said

"Let's put integrity, honesty at the heart, let's make the case for change and it's not just a change in terms of our policies, it's a change in terms of delivery and the culture of transparency," she said.


'Internal reform very much needed'


Leadership candidate Humza Yousaf has promised an internal shake-up from day one, telling the BBC: "There needs to be internal reform within our headquarters, of that there is simply no doubt.

"I've said from day one, since I launched my campaign, that internal reform is very much needed and certainly I will be looking to see what I can do to shake up that operation at headquarters from day one."

But during a visit to Glasgow Gurdwara, Mr Yousaf said the party's row over membership numbers was an "own goal".

Discussing the party's finances, he added: "I've not delved into this - I don't know the finances of the party because I don't hold an office-bearer position. But clearly If I'm elected leader of the SNP it's one of the first things I'd want to get up to speed on."

Ash Regan said she was "encouraged to see the democratic foundations of the party now asserting their rightful function".

She added that the SNP's foundations were based on accountability, transparency, modernity and accessibility.

Ms Forbes also told Laura Kuenssberg that on approaching the contest, she had weighed up having a young family with future potential responsibilities.

She gave birth to her daughter in August last year and was on maternity leave when First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation.

"I've had to juggle a very young family with the contest but many mothers do that," she said.

Ms Forbes added that the role of first minister should be open to anyone, irrespective of their personal circumstances.

Within a couple of days of confirming she would stand in the contest, Ms Forbes found herself at the centre of a political storm.

She lost several supporters after telling journalists she would not have voted for gay marriage had she been an MSP at the time.

Subsequently Ms Forbes told Sky News that she believed having children outside marriage was "wrong" according to her faith as a member of the evangelical Free Church of Scotland, while stressing that: "In a free society you can do what you want."

But on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she addressed the gay community, saying: "I give you an honest pledge today to govern in a way that delivers for you, that does not in any way undermine your rights and actually seeks to enhance your opportunities in Scotland to ensure that Scotland is truly that tolerant and pluralistic nation that we all want to see."

Ms Forbes said that people were "rightly scrutinising" who she was and what she believed.

She added: "I also think that in a pluralistic society, in a tolerant society, we can find a way to live together and to defend one another's rights.

"It's incumbent on me as a person of a minority community, somebody of faith to defend other minorities' rights and I hope that they might defend my rights too, that is truly the definition of a tolerant society."

Ms Forbes also confirmed that despite her faith, she would work on Sundays if she was appointed first minister.

She said: "The nature of the job is, of course, that it's 24/7. I recognise that. I hope nobody would begrudge me some hours off every week to be with family because I think that certainly makes for a more balanced life and hopefully better decision-making."


Russell should 'grasp the thistle'


Opposition parties have criticised the SNP's handling of the leadership race and suggested Mr Russell was not being honest about party membership numbers.

The Scottish Conservatives said Mr Russell must have been the most "hands-off party president ever" if he did not know about falling numbers.

Party chairman Craig Hoy said: "He's asking us to believe that he had no idea what the SNP membership figures were until they were published a few days ago, nor who was responsible for ordering the party's former chief spin doctor to rubbish a perfectly accurate newspaper report on that figure.

"This is symptomatic of the secrecy and lack of accountability which infects the top of the SNP."

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the "election is in chaos" with allegations and resignations appearing on a daily basis.

"There is no way the president of the SNP did not know about the exodus of members from the party," she said. "Mr Russell should 'grasp the thistle' by facing up to the chaos in his party.

"If this is how the SNP run their own party, just imagine the chaos in government - Scotland deserves better."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×