SNP rebels ‘plot to oust leader' after by-election defeat

Telegraph

11-06-2025

SNP rebels are plotting to oust their leader after the party's by-election defeat last week.
Twenty-five senior SNP figures are said to have held a meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney, the First Minister of Scotland, as party leader, barely a year after he succeeded Humza Yousaf.
The Herald newspaper suggested Mr Swinney might face a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October if he did not come up with a new strategy to achieve Scottish independence in the next two weeks.
The row erupted as Mr Swinney conducted a mini-reshuffle of his front-bench team following the death of Christine McKelvie, the drugs minister, which triggered a Scottish Parliament by-election in her Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse constituency.
The SNP were hot favourites to win the contest, but Labour pulled off a surprise victory.
The defeat followed Labour's rout of the SNP in last year's general election, also under Mr Swinney's leadership.
Alex Neil, a former SNP health secretary, said Mr Swinney should be replaced. Labour criticised the First Minister for running a 'dishonest' by-election by claiming voters faced a 'two-horse race' between the SNP and Reform UK .
Paul McLennan, the SNP housing minister before the reshuffle, also attacked the party's 'negative' campaign, saying it should have been focused on 'giving people reasons to vote for the SNP, not against Reform'.
Mr Swinney initially won praise for overseeing a recovery in the SNP's fortunes, following the troubled final months of Nicola Sturgeon's premiership and Mr Yousaf's chaotic tenure.
However, he angered hard-line Nationalists by warning that support for independence would have to increase to more than 60 per cent to force the UK Government to allow another referendum.
The Herald said there was a unanimous view at the rebels' meeting that the First Minister had 'no intention of putting independence anywhere near the party's narrative whatsoever'.
'If there is nothing in the next couple of weeks from the leadership, then conference will be a bloodbath,' a source said.
Under SNP rules, any member who can secure 100 nominations from 20 different branches ahead of party conference can trigger a leadership vote.
Rank-and-file challenger?
Although the source doubted that an MP or MSP would challenge Mr Swinney for the leadership, they said a rank-and-file activist could come forward and any contest would be 'hugely damning and damaging, and make the party look utterly ridiculous'.
They also warned that the rebel faction could attempt to use internal elections to seize key positions on the SNP's ruling national executive committee (NEC) such as depute leader and national secretary.
An SNP insider said: 'NEC members better start looking for new hobbies unless the leadership announces a change of direction soon – because at this rate we are heading for a mass clear-out.'
They said Mr Swinney had 'dropped independence' during his first ill-fated stint as party leader, between 2000 and 2004, and that had ended in 'a bruising defeat' at the ballot box.
'The ability to make the case for independence is not a desirable part of the job description – it is essential – and he has failed on probation,' they said.
'The Presbyterian schoolmaster might fly in Perthshire – but in the rest of Scotland it just does not land. Stabilising the party only works for a short time. There is no energy, no fire, no boldness, no long-term vision.'
Starmer: Scots want change
In the House of Commons, Joani Reid, the Labour MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, raised the SNP's by-election defeat and the reports of plotting against Mr Swinney at Prime Minister's Questions.
To laughter, she asked Sir Keir Starmer: 'Does he agree with me that a leader who has only ever lost elections to the Labour Party should stay put?'
The Prime Minister said: 'After nearly two decades in power, the SNP got their verdict last Thursday. Scotland wants change, and they know the SNP are completely out of ideas. That is why they want a Labour Government to deliver real change.'
An SNP spokesman said: 'Since John Swinney became leader last year he has brought the SNP back together and the party is back to doing what it does best – standing up for the people of Scotland.
'In the run-up to next year's Scottish Parliament election, the SNP will continue to deliver for people across the country, while setting out a clear and hopeful vision for their future as an independent country.'