Friday 28 April 2023
Nicola Sturgeon, a woman never fit for public office
Well, here we are at the end of another busy week. There is so much happening now, it is difficult to know where to start. Politics in Scotland has descended into the gutter, with police enquiries in progress into missing funds solicited by the SNP specifically for use in an independence campaign.
It would take a book to properly go into the difficulties the SNP finds itself in today but to briefly touch on where we are and how we arrived here I would offer the following synopsis, which is basically an opinion based on a combination of knowledge of events and general feelings I have in connection with the conclusions I make.
OK, so firstly, as far as independence goes, we are in a mess and there is absolutely no doubt about that. Nicola Sturgeon has presided over the most incompetent and potentially corrupt, administration of both the Scottish government and political party, in probably the history of Scotland.
To find the route and cause of this catastrophe I think we must go back to the point where we were before she took over both the leadership of the SNP and first minister of Scotland.
Alex Salmond led both the SNP and the Scottish government from 2007 to 2014. He did this initially by way of a minority administration, but he did it very well. The SNP were a very tight ship and there were never any outward signs of dissent.
The ruling body of the SNP, the NEC, was operated in a very democratic manner, although guided by Salmond. I could be wrong, but it gave the impression of being kind of like a benign dictatorship. Perhaps that is too strong a description but certainly, he was a very strong, but good leader, and under Salmond, Scotland flourished in the limited manner that devolution allowed.
The difference between Salmond and Sturgeon was intelligence and experience, Salmond worked as an economist. first for the Scottish office then with the Royal Bank of Scotland, so he had a grounding in commerce and the workings of government. Whereas, Sturgeon, trained as a lawyer and worked for several years as one, however, her career came to an end after a case was brought against her through the Law Society in connection with unsatisfactory conduct in relation to three counts of professional misconduct in connection with her failure to provide adequate legal services to a victim of domestic violence.
Even that affair cast shadows in her later life as First Minister of Scotland, as it turned out that the investigating lawyer tasked with looking at the allegations against Sturgeon on behalf of the law society was Olga Pasportnicov.
This woman later became a judge after being appointed by Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister.
So, one must wonder what would have happened if Nicola Sturgeon’s early career had seen the light of day during her earlier alternative career in politics.
So, we have Alex Salmond, a man with a solid grounding in business and the workings of government, leading the country very well and taking us to a referendum with an overall parliamentary majority of one and only six representatives in Westminster.
On the other hand, we have Nicola Sturgeon, a woman with, let’s say, a dubious early attempt at a career she left, after an investigation into her competence as a lawyer.
During Nicola Sturgeons Tenure as leader of the SNP and First minister she ( on the back of Salmond’s achievement’s and surge in sentiment) was gifted with both a majority in the Scottish Parliament an incredible 56 seats in Westminster, together with a totally corrupt and incompetent Tory Party at Westminster and Scotland being dragged out of the EU. Astoundingly, she failed to take advantage of any of these gifts from heaven.
Nicola Sturgeon rose to fame on the back of Alex Salmond, a giant in Scottish politics and a man who got things done. After Salmond resigned in the wake of the referendum defeat in 2014 there was an unprecedented surge in sentiment and disappointment at the close defeat, resulting in a huge surge in SNP membership, making it the third-largest political party in the UK.
Now remember, none of this was due to anything that Nicola Sturgeon had done, in fact, her popularity increased, even though everything she did could have been construed as dampening down the cause of independence.
I don’t think there has been such a case of mass hysteria in history.
Very early on, I had severe reservations as to the manner that Nicola Sturgeon was handling the cause of independence. She was making statements like, “This election is not about independence” and the hoards did not believe her. I did believe her, and when I gave warnings about it, I was vilified in the most awful manner.
This was the point where the secret clever plan came into discussion. People simply couldn’t believe what she was saying was the truth, and to account for their self-imposed blindness, they came up with this ridiculous statement. I wish I had a pound for every time I have been told that I “just didn’t understand what was going on and Nicola Had a secret clever plan.”
Ok, so what I believe happened was that Sturgeon saw clearly that Salmond had an iron grip on the party. What she chose not to see was that his actions were all to do with the attainment of independence and were in fact very democratic as far as party mechanisms were concerned. He ruled by consent and his rule was selfless.
She saw opportunities to advance her position on the World stage and on the way make a career out of endless independence hope, thereby giving her and her acolytes very healthy bank balances and pensions.
One problem was Alex Salmond, who could have come back into mainline politics as he had done in the past. The reason she feared this was that she was just about intelligent enough to see that she was making an utter mess of governing Scotland and eventually the lack of a secret clever plan would become evident, even to the dimmest-witted of her followers and it would become apparent to all that the emperor had no clothes.
At this point I believe, the plot to get rid of Salmond was put into place. There was a concerted effort to gather complaints regarding Salmond’s previous behaviour whilst in the company of women and police Scotland willingly put huge resources into trying to construct a case against him.
It was unsuccessful and eventually close associates of Sturgeon and Murrel were brought into the coven and presented themselves as complainers.
As you know, it didn’t work and a mainly female jury acquitted Salmond of all accusations.
This was just one of the many tragic errors made by Nicola Sturgeon and it would take too long to list them here, but briefly. Late and over budget Ferries, haplessly mismanaged Gender recognition legislation, imposed upon the people of Scotland to appease Stonewall, highest drug deaths in Europe, failing education system, failing NHS. Corporate manslaughter of elderly hospital patients who were put, untested into care homes, some while known to be infected with Covid, etc., etc. Now a long list of resignations including her own, during a fraud investigation.
Clearly, the woman was never suited for, or capable of, holding an office of state.
So, where now? Well, if anyone thinks Humza Yousaf is the answer then that is taking the present delusion to a new level. Yousef is there for one purpose and one purpose only; he is there to prevent any enquiry into the disastrous tenure of Nicola Sturgeon. His election was a setup and it will all come tumbling down, just like the Sturgeon gravy train.
As for independence, well the SNP have proven that they are neither interested nor capable of delivering it. So, the best thing that can happen to them is to disband.
As to who can get independence back on track. Well, if I was a betting man, I might put a few quid on Alex Salmond.
Bob Costello 