Joan McAlpine: Trust, so carefully won, has been lost. It is time for a clean pair of hands

Trust, truth and confidence go together in politics. If people lose trust in their politicians, they also lose confidence in them to get the job of running the country done.

For years, the SNP government benefited from the precious gift of trust. Polls consistently showed it enjoyed higher levels of confidence than its Westminster counterpart.

That has been destroyed by the small cabal around Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell, the SNP’s now ex-chief executive. It’s perhaps a blessing that the secretive, controlling and undemocratic edifice they built is tumbling down in spectacular fashion.

Murray Foote, the press chief who resigned when it became clear he gave false information to journalists about the party’s membership figures, threw an unexploded bomb on his way out the door. It detonated in the lap of Murrell.

It’s one thing to lie, but to deceive others into lying on your behalf is mendacity on steroids. Journalists and politicians are old hands at the game of spinning and speculation. Flat out fibbing is another matter.

The game is not over though. The same tiny group of people who lied are running the election to chose our next first minister. The apparatus of party and even government is pushing “continuity candidate” Humza Yousaf.

Liz Lloyd, a key member of the Sturgeon/Murrell inner circle, and a politically appointed civil servant, was revealed to be assisting the Yousaf campaign. She announced she would be resigning her £100k-plus post on Friday, insisting that was always her intention when her boss stood down and claiming she only campaigned for Yousaf in her time off.

It seems reasonable for the other leadership candidates, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan, to demand reassurances about the integrity of the election process, including the size of the electorate. But, just as Foote mocked journalists, the party establishment ridiculed them. To lie outright, while accusing your colleagues of being Trumpian for demanding facts you sought to conceal, betrays a special kind of arrogance.

Joan McAlpine: Resurgent Labour is moving to break down the doors of the SNP’s big bothy

The declining membership – a 50,000-plus fall since 2019 – should have been explored in the leadership campaign itself. It constitutes a huge loss of income as well as a loss of faith. Refusal to reveal numbers was designed to protect those who have determined the party’s ideological direction in recent years. Thousands have left since the first minister embraced the cult of transgender ideology, which insists that even men who rape and abuse women, men who have made no physical changes to their bodies, can switch their legal sex. Ten thousand members have gone since the Gender Recognition Reform Bill was driven through in December.

When a few student members in 2021 quit the party citing “transphobia”, Sturgeon made a bizarre selfie video begging them to stay. The trigger for the student tantrum was MSPs’ support for amendments in a government bill that ensured rape victims could choose the sex of their medical examiner. Most people would consider that humane, the trans cult believe it bigoted.

The first minister and the tiny circle of advisers who never challenge her knew people were leaving the party in droves because of sex self-ID. There was no video, no attempt to address the decline. Instead they pushed ahead with the legislation and covered up the scale of the protest. Now Yousaf is set to continue the carnage by defending the law in the courts, where it’s being challenged by the UK government.

There is also disquiet about the apparent disappearance of £600,000 donated by the public for an independence referendum campaign. This has caused senior members of the party, including the MP who was its treasurer, to resign, citing lack of transparency. A report has been sent to the Crown Office. The party machine has also been used to block anyone who challenges the current set-up. For example, rules were changed to prevent MP Joanna Cherry running for the Scottish Parliament.

Yousaf is tainted by association and his campaign looks damaged. Days ago he claimed Peter Murrell was a winner. He has promoted the policy that caused membership and therefore income to fall off a cliff. He has allied himself with a secretive party establishment and he has been accused of lying over the reasons for his failure to vote for same-sex marriage.

It’s time for a reset. Both Kate Forbes and Ash Regan offer that fresh start. Their bravery in challenging a bullying establishment, in standing by their principles and being honest about their intentions, stands in stark contrast with the behaviour we have witnessed recently from party bosses.

Continuity won’t cut it has been the slogan of Forbes campaign. The events of recent days makes it particularly prescient. Trust, so carefully won, is the casualty of this debacle and it cannot continue this way. People will ask, if the party lies about this, what else will they lie about? Forbes is known for her honesty and integrity. She the best placed to beat the continuity candidate with Ash Regan’s second preference votes. Forbes is not part of the machine and is untainted by the unfolding events.

This is a critical moment for the SNP and the party’s future. The shrinking numbers show members voting with their feet. Unless it changes direction, and wins back trust, the electorate will do likewise.

Joan McAlpine is a journalist, commentator and former SNP MSP