as ‘female’ appointments to public boards. Nicola Sturgeon in particular has embraced this ideology with the fervour of a woman who really wants to be called ‘progressive’ by Gen-Z Twitter activists with blue hair. After a number of younger members quit the SNP last week, Sturgeon put out a video pleading with them to ‘come home where you belong’ while the party issued a statement saying: ‘We are sorry that we’ve let you down and today pledge ourselves to change’. This came amid a string of leaks to the grassroots pro-independence blog 'Wings over Scotland' documenting the next stages of what old-guard nationalists consider the woke takeover of the SNP. […]
Under Sturgeon, the New SNP (2014-present) is personality-led, elite-driven, and ruled by a doctrine that cannot be found anywhere in the party’s constitution (yet) but which holds more sway than fusty old rulebooks drawn up in fusty old conference halls and voted on by fusty old delegates.
It is a doctrine I call ‘coercive progressivism’ and is a total ideology of identity, culture and values that places these matters, rather than economic or social affairs, at the heart of politics and seeks to enforce its marginal orthodoxy on the mainstream by way of law, social pressure and institutional capture. It is, at root, a post-liberal and post-democratic movement. And it brooks not a peep of disagreement, which is why the foremost talent on the SNP frontbench is no longer on the SNP frontbench.
More from Katy Balls:
Cherry's sacking comes after weeks of tensions over the transgender debate within the party. The QC has been a vocal critic of the Scottish government’s plan to reform the Gender Recognition Act. This has become more heated in recent days: Cherry's decision to offer a 'gender critical' activist support online led to a backlash from members in the official LGBTQ+ wing of the party.
However, SNP sources suggest that this is about more than the transgender debate. It goes to Nicola Sturgeon's own position. The First Minister is facing renewed scrutiny over her handling of allegations made against her predecessor Alex Salmond. The party leader is facing two inquiries into her conduct around the investigations into her former mentor.
Sturgeon allies worry that they could be used to undermine her position. Cherry is a close ally of Salmond. Tellingly, two other SNP MPs to have been left on the backbench are Kenny MacAskill and Angus MacNeil. Both politicians have in the past been attacked by Sturgeon allies for publicly speculating about her future. With Cherry not planning to go quietly, the SNP's internal war is just beginning.
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