Joanna Cherry says she has been ‘airbrushed’ from SNP history

Joanna Cherry has stepped up her criticism of the SNP hierarchy after her sacking from the party's front bench at Westminster earlier this week.

Joanna Cherry was sacked from the SNP's Westminster front bench

The Edinburgh South West MP suggested there is no "functioning link" between the party's MPs at Westminster and the leadership.

A man has been charged after Ms Cherry reported alleged threats to the police in the aftermath of her dramatic removal from the SNP's Commons front bench by the party's Westminster leader Ian Blackford on Monday.

Ms Cherry suggested in a column for the National today this was down to her public calls for stronger line on an independence Plan B, along with her high profile role in the debate over women’s rights versus trans rights.

"I got 30 minutes’ notice of the announcement, no proper explanation of why I was being sacked and no acknowledgement of or any thanks at all for the work I have done in that role over the last five-and-a-half years," she said in her weekly National column.

"The press release announcing the reshuffle was a masterly piece of Stalinist revisionism in which I was not even mentioned. Airbrushed from history. A non-person."

The MP said she had faced a "tsunami" of abuse in the aftermath of her dismissal as Justice spokeswoman at Westminster and said that much of the criticism had come from people within the SNP.

"Those in authority refuse to condemn them," Ms Cherry added.

She went on: "As to the internal politics of the SNP, what is now in the public domain is the tip of the iceberg of behaviour which I and others have had to put up with for years.

"I really do understand why people say – ‘sort this out in private, it’s harming the cause’, but please be aware there is no internal way to properly discuss policy or strategy and there is no functioning link between MPs and the leadership."

Ms Cherry recently publicly clashed with fellow Nationalist MPs Kirsty Blackman and Kirsten Oswald on Twitter.

The MP suggests double standards are at play in the SNP over the kind of behaviour and public criticism of policy that is tolerated by those close to the leadership, compared with the treatment she has faced.

The MP even cites the initial refusal of chief executive Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon's husband, to make a second appearance before a Holyrood committee probing the Scottish Government's handling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond. Mr Murrell has since agreed to return to give evidence.

Ms Cherry also appears to suggest that some had hoped her departure would be “swept under the carpet.”

“While I am alarmed by the reports of mass resignations from the party as a result of my treatment, I have also been overwhelmed by messages of support from party members, constituents, members of the public and cross-party colleagues,” she added.

Former Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, now the MP for East Lothian, said Ms Cherry’s sacking was a “big mistake” and described her as a potential future leader of the party,

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