Why are there so many tales of corruption and scandal
involving Scottish nationalists? Former SNP MP Nathalie McGarry has just been
convicted of embezzlement and will most likely be jailed. It is a sad story and
each of us ought to regret the disgrace and ruin that this individual faces.
She could have had a long career as an MP, instead it was cut short after two
years and now she will find herself in an unpleasant place with limited
prospects afterwards. But why did she think she could steal money and get away with
it? The answer I think is that belief in the cause makes Scottish nationalists
feel they are immune to ordinary morality.
We don’t know exactly what exactly Alex Salmond did or did not do when he lived in Bute House, but we do know that his behaviour was covered up. The Scottish media did not carry stories of what he was alleged to have been doing when he was alleged to have been doing it. It took many years before witnesses came forward and eventually there was a trial.
Mr Salmond must have thought he was immune. He could
do what he pleased, and no one would even talk about it. After all there was an
independence referendum to be won. No SNP politician who witnessed anything untoward
would have spoken publicly about it in 2014 in the months leading up to the referendum.
But this culture of silence has if anything got worse
since Nicola Sturgeon took over from Salmond. There was secrecy about how
Salmond’s behaviour was investigated. There was secrecy about what Sturgeon
knew and when she knew it. When the whole scandal was investigated by the
Scottish Parliament documents were withheld and the final result of the
investigation was less than satisfactory.
Anyone watching the coverage of both Salmond and
Sturgeon speaking about the various allegations was confronted with the idea
that there was something important waiting to be revealed, but that it never would
be. One or other of Salmond and Sturgeon was not telling the truth. We could reasonably
believe that Salmond was a more or less innocent victim of an attempt to ruin
him by Sturgeon. Alternatively, we could believe Sturgeon’s story. But we could
hardly believe both.
Astonishingly both Salmond and Sturgeon were able to
return to frontline politics soon after. Sturgeon’s party was not damaged even
a little bit by the scandal. Salmond was able to launch a new party and is still
treated with respect.
In England both Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer have faced
calls for resignation for minor breaches of lockdown regulations such as having
an impromptu birthday party or drinking beer with a curry with colleagues. It is
simply unimaginable that if something like the Salmond Sturgeon scandal had
happened in England that it would not have leaked almost immediately and that
it would not have brought down everyone involved.
In Scotland however the Scottish nationalist side of
the electorate simply does not care if Sturgeon breached any lockdown
regulations. It doesn’t even care if she plotted to unjustly have her
predecessor sent to jail.
I have become bored following stories about
incompetence at building ferries. The story is important. It could only happen
in Scotland. Public money has been wasted, documents have gone missing. But
even if these documents are eventually discovered it won’t make any difference.
The SNP politicians involved won’t be touched and even if they were the
popularity of the SNP won’t be touched.
There is a word for this. It is corruption. Nathalie
McGarry’s crime is part of a culture that has developed in Scotland under the
SNP. The cause of independence is more important than anything else. It is more
important than morality. It is more important even than crime.
If Nicola Sturgeon broke a lockdown rule, there is no
one who would snitch on her and even if there were such a story the Scottish
media would not touch it. So, we are left with rumours about her that no one
really knows to be true or false.
Alex Salmond could behave so badly in Bute House that
women civil servants were told not to be alone in the same room as him, but not
one of these women felt she could go to the police at the time when it might have
been possible to investigate more fully. Instead, they had to wait for
permission from on high years after the event when it was difficult to prove
anything.
But if you lived in a political culture where people
tended to get away with things, whether it was hiding documents or touching knees
in the backseat of cars, then you too might think it would harm no one if some
money from a campaign account ended up in a personal account.
Nicola Sturgeon and her colleagues know that they will
probably survive any scandal. If they make a muck of building ferries, it won’t
matter much, emails will be lost, documents shredded. More importantly scandals
are mainly about public opinion. If Boris Johnson loses enough votes because of
a scandal he will go. But Sturgeon knows she won’t lose votes, and neither will
the SNP.
It is for this reason Sturgeon acts like an absolute
monarch and why the SNP courtiers behave like they are in Versailles rather
than in Holyrood.
How do you get to the top in the SNP? How do you reach
the inner circle? There are nearly fifty rotten boroughs in the gift of
Sturgeon. One of them can go to a Nathalie McGarry or not as the case may be.
But we know that Sturgeon in the end will have the final say over the list.
The difference between being an SNP MP or not would
make a big difference to the lifestyle of a lot of independence supporters, few
of whom could earn that much on their own. So, who wouldn’t keep silent in the
hope of getting the patronage of the monarch?
It is for this reason that we don’t get leaks from the
Scottish civil service. It’s for this reason that SNP scandals and lies so
rarely lead to resignations and almost never lead to a drop in support or the
loss of seats.
Parties like the SNP think they can rule as badly as
they want, because it won’t make any difference to their support. They think
this, because it is true.
But if you think that you can get away with ruling
badly, because you can, eventually you think you can get away with anything,
because you can.
It is for this reason that Nathalie McGarry will go to
jail. She is the product of a corrupt political system which thinks that it can
do anything and still be elected. If hundreds of millions of pounds can be
wasted on ferries that are never built, but no one is punished, then what is
twenty grand between friends? If you can get away with losing millions, then
you can surely get away with nicking small change.
