SNP must move on from infighting inspired by bitter Salmond-Sturgeon feud

Alex Salmond was a better First Minister than he was a former First Minister

Alex Salmond put the SNP at the forefront of Scotland’s political landscape, but with his premature and sudden death, the independence project now enters the post-Salmond era. As he goes to rest, so too should the idea that the cause of independence should be so inexplicably linked to the fortunes of one or two individuals. This is a time for new ideas and new people.

Big political figures tend to have complex and disputed legacies, and the former First Minister is one such figure. He has undoubtedly earned his place as a political giant of Scottish and UK politics, with a long and colourful career that reached its zenith when he held the highest office in the land and secured Scotland’s independence referendum.

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Personality flaws and errors

Though a man of enormous talent and ability, his judgment was not always so fine. This is not a controversial view but a plainly observable fact. Although I have no desire to relitigate the debate about his behaviour, personality flaws and errors over more recent years, I long ago concluded that Mr Salmond was a better First Minister than he was a former First Minister. I believe that still stands today.

Mr Salmond’s partnership with Nicola Sturgeon would become one of the most powerful and consequential political partnerships of the modern age. There are parallels with the Blair-Brown alliance – albeit they shouldn’t be overstated – which saw both men lead an overhaul of the Labour party. They reimagined the party’s philosophical anchors and made Labour fit for a modern age.

They had a vision, they married it to a strategy, and they set about changing the party entirely. The result was the electoral juggernaut that was New Labour. It doesn’t take much to work out who Alex and Nicola learned from when they assumed the leadership of the SNP 20 years ago.

Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon were the SNP's version of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown but it's time for the party to move on (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell)Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon were the SNP's version of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown but it's time for the party to move on (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell)
Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon were the SNP's version of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown but it's time for the party to move on (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

Public fallout

In recent years, that impressive electoral alliance has been slowly buried under a miasma of despair. The two former First Minister’s very public and bitter fallout would inspire numerous splits and proxy wars within the party and wider movement.

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Mr Salmond’s passing provides an opportunity to reflect on the new era that the cause of independence enters, and its advocates must consider afresh how best to lead and shape Scotland’s conversation about the future.

This will require today’s SNP to move beyond its two most dominating personalities and the controversies of its recent past. While these two great leaders achieved much, the time has come for new ideas and some fresh faces to drive forward a new period of evolution.

The infighting and bitter personal rivalries have served as distractions, weakening the party’s purpose and making it a political stranger on too many doorsteps across Scotland – as I experienced myself during the recent general election campaign.

Project of renewal

It is for Mr Salmond’s family to consider the fate of his outstanding legal pursuits – and that is their perfectly proper right – but those in politics who wish to continue the political acrimony and battles of the past should think again. We must move on. Scotland must move on.

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This year marks the beginning of the second post-indyref decade: a sort of fork-in-the-road moment. It is a chance to embrace new voices, new ideas and a forward-looking generation who are uninterested in old and bitter histories, but instead have the ideas and courage to shape the party and serve Scotland.

A project of renewal should reimagine the party entirely: its institutions and governance; its political anchors and policy prospectus; its personnel and people. The party lacks an intellectual ecosystem that is separate to but can be of the party – something that Labour benefits from in the form of the trade unions or organisations like Fabian Society. It should similarly rethink entirely how it makes policy, which is too often driven by social trends and lacking in expert input. It also needs a new approach to the recruitment of candidates.

Harbingers of spring

I don’t pretend that any of this will be easy. Today’s party is much like an extended family and what has emerged over these past few years has been something closer to a personal trauma for many. This has left a deeply unpleasant legacy, often dividing members and sowing distrust.

A clear line must now be drawn under this period. John Swinney and Kate Forbes are well placed to lead the party and the country out of what has been a long, dark winter. They must become the harbingers of spring.

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I mention the recruitment of new candidates because it is something that is sorely needed. This is widely acknowledged by politicians, advisers and journalists, but usually only discussed in whispered tones. It needs tackled head on.

A new era calls for an injection of fresh talent from a wide and varied cross-section of Scottish society. It calls for an end to the age-old tradition of Buggins’ Turn that exists in all parties. Instead, Mr Swinney should recruit Scotland’s brightest and best from business, civil society, academia, the veteran’s community, the public sector and elsewhere. Such an approach should elevate those with genuinely good and interesting ideas over those who are simply big on X/Twitter – an experiment that can only lead to disappointment.

Emerging from long shadows

A new philosophy should govern the SNP’s selection of candidates, making space for people who have thought, in detail, about how to solve the challenges in Scotland today, and are committed to being part of a team that will modernise and rewire the party and the country. How many leaflets they have previously delivered is completely irrelevant.

Operation Branchform, like Mr Salmond’s ongoing legal disputes, may well rumble on and bubble up. The party cannot alter these facts. And so, it should ruthlessly focus its energy on what it can affect: its own direction of travel. We can and we should mark the legacy of big figures, but it would be a mistake to face the future from underneath their long shadow.

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