It is the anticipation that they cannot endure. Following the arrests of the SNP’s former chief executive and treasurer by police investigating fraud allegations, foreboding has descended upon the party.
Ex-leader Nicola Sturgeon will at some point be invited to assist officers with their investigations, according to senior figures. Her office has stated that she will assist investigators “if asked” A few weeks ago, Sturgeon was regarded as the SNP’s most valuable asset. Now she may be the company’s greatest liability.
Tuesday’s Scottish Parliament reconvened without Sturgeon.
Sturgeon was nowhere to be found when the Scottish Parliament reconvened on Tuesday after the Easter recess. The nationalists’ official account of events — and thank them for attempting it — was that she had always intended to remain absent while new Prime Minister Humza Yousaf established himself.
The arrest of the party’s treasurer, Colin Beattie, two weeks after the arrest of Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, coincided with Yousaf’s attempt to launch a government program. Beattie has now resigned.
Yousaf had to discuss the police inquiry rather than his aims.
Yousaf’s efforts to manage the scandal that has engulfed his party have been akin to a man battling a blaze with only a bag of kindling and a can of lighter fluid.
On Tuesday, Yousaf stated, “Of course I’m surprised when one of my colleagues is arrested,” “I’ll have to speak with Colin — he’s still at the police station,” and, in response to a question about whether the SNP was acting criminally, “I don’t believe so.”
Yousaf continues to resist calls from opponents to suspend Murrell and Beattie from the party due to their involvement in the police investigation into the whereabouts of over £600,000 raised for a nonexistent referendum campaign. According to party sources, if he were to do so, he would be required to do the same for Sturgeon if police invite her to make a statement.
Nobody at Holyrood is currently paying much heed to Yousaf. Rather, Scottish politics is in a state of paralysis as participants await word on whether Police Scotland representatives have interviewed Nicola Sturgeon.