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Scottish First Minister John Swinney told to QUIT after just 65 days in charge as SNP descends into fresh civil war in wake of general election battering
Scottish First Minister John Swinney has been told to quit after just 65 days as SNP leader as the party plunged into fresh infighting following their election battering. Voters pummelled the pro-independence party at last week’s general election as the SNP slumped to just nine MPs – a loss of 39 seats from the 48 they won in 2019.
Douglas Chapman, who stood down as Dunfermline and West Fife MP before the 4 July contest, has now called for the SNP to make a ‘fresh start’. He told Mr Swinney to step aside as part of efforts to ‘clear the decks’ and touted Kate Forbes and Stephen Flynn as ‘frontrunners’ for a new leadership team. Mr Chapman’s intervention came after another former SNP MP branded ex-first minister Nicola Sturgeon as ‘Stalin’s wee sister’ and labelled her leadership a ‘cult’.
Fresh civil war has broken out in SNP ranks despite Mr Swinney only becoming SNP leader on 6 May. He took over from Humza Yousaf who had quit after little more than a year since replacing Ms Sturgeon. Mr Chapman admitted their had been ‘shortcomings’ from the SNP leadership in recent years, telling the Herald newspaper: ‘I believe we really do need that fresh start, that fresh impetus. ‘And we need to look to our members to provide that and to be brutally honest with the leadership of the party about what they think has gone wrong and what they think the solutions might be.
