caltonjock

 

 

 

Joanna Cherry

The unwarranted and indefensible attacks on the character of this truly excellent Scottish politician continue unabated. She needs to know her voice is being heard and her words of wisdom are being widely read and her views supported. Go to her Twitter page and see for yourself the abuse she suffers from the Wokey’s  for our cause.  (https://twitter.com/joannaccherry)

 

 

 

Joanna Cherry Defends Women’s Rights

Joanna Cherry, is the SNP Front-Bench Spokesperson, at Westminster, for Justice and Home Affairs and has been a leading voice in the campaign to keep the Human Rights Act and to stay in the European Convention on Human Rights. She was re-elected, with an increased majority of nearly 12,000, as MP for Edinburgh South West in the 2019 General Election.

She and 15 other SNP politicians, critics of Nicola’s proposal to allow gender self-identification signed a joint letter urging their government not to “rush” into “changing the definition of male and female. Their advice was that the change would weaken the rights and ability of women, to keep themselves safe from men who would seek to do them harm. A position further strengthened with the publication of the “SNP Women’s Pledge”, a document originating with rank and file members of the SNP.

But Joanna’s intervention was judged by WOKE supporters to be an unacceptable challenge to the authority of the Party leader and she was condemned and targeted by yobs who accused her and her supporters of hating Trans people. She even received a death threat and needed police protection at her constituency surgery.

In setting out their stall Joanna and her supporters had committed a fatal error. They had sought to thwart Nicola’s plans. An unacceptable sin. There would be a reckoning and soon.

In her defense Joanna stated:

“I have repeatedly denied hatred towards trans people and I am determined not to be intimidated and to continue to discharge my duties as a constituency MP and in parliament.”.

But the on-line abuse did not abate:

One attacker was Jordan Henderson, (partner of NEC member Alyn Smith) who relentlessly and brutally twittered against her and other female SNP members who did not support the WOKE agenda. In one of his less vitriolic posts, he said: “We should all change our name to ‘Joanna Cherry is a Transphobe’”.

Check-out some of his other Twitter posts at: (@montague90 and @JordonSNP). This is the same chappie who first offered then withdrew himself as a candidate for the Labour-held Edinburgh South constituency.

 

 

 

 

Edinburgh Central Constituency

Baroness “Ruth the Mooth” Davidson announced she would not be seeking election to the constituency in the 2021 General Election sparking a scramble within the SNP.

The seat, just down the road from Holyrood is much sought after by members of all political Party’s. Joanna Cherry threw her hat into the ring with an early announcement of her intention to stand for the seat. Her competition was confirmed to be ex-SNP Edinburgh Central MSP Marco Biagi and former Westminster leader Angus Robertson. But, “surprise-surprise”, a decision was made by the NEC that serving SNP MPs would have to step down ahead of next year’s Scottish Parliament election to be able to stand on the SNP ticket for a Holyrood seat. Party insiders said the change was part of a “new strategy” about ensuring constituency candidates were “onside”.

David Henry, organizer for the SNP Edinburgh Pentlands Constituency Association and secretary of the Sighthill and Stenhouse branch of the Party did not agree with the decision and lodged papers in Edinburgh Sheriff Court demanding the release of details of any advice relating to the rule change, records showing the votes and the results on the rule change on the NEC and an investigation into the conduct of the respondents over the decision.

Joanna tweeted about the decision to change the rules:

“The selection rules were subject to an unprecedented change in a secret vote to nobble my candidacy. I sought to enter the selection competition to be the SNP candidate to contest the Edinburgh Central seat currently held by the Tories. The constituency is where I’ve lived for last twenty years & been a branch member for 12 years. It is unprecedented in our party’s history of dual mandates to demand that a parliamentarian make themselves and their constituency staff unemployed in order to be eligible to be a candidate. It is particularly unreasonable to demand this in the middle of a pandemic.”

In their reply the SNP said:

“The NEC backed an approach that will guarantee constituents a full-time commitment from day one, and minimize the disruption to voters. The rules are not aimed at serving MPs such as Joanna Cherry.”

 

 

 

 

Edinburgh Central Bid Abandoned

Joanna was forced to withdraw her bid to stand for Holyrood following the NEC rule change, widely seen as a spoiler introduced to prevent her challenging Angus Robertson, a close confidant of Nicola Sturgeon, for the nomination to fight Edinburgh Central for the SNP. Joanna Hit Back. In an article in The “National” she wrote:

“NEC members, at a meeting which I, as a member of the NEC, was prevented from attending attempted to have me deselected last year. Members of the NEC are usually afforded the facility of joining meetings by conference call when it is not possible for them to travel to the venue, which can be anywhere in Scotland, but on this occasion, I was informed by SNP HQ that this would not be available. Briefings against me continued during the general election campaign. This was upsetting not just for me but also for the SNP activists who were working hard in winter weather to have me re-elected as an SNP MP rather than sitting at home briefing Unionist newspapers against SNP candidates. In terms of the SNP constitution, the National Conference is the supreme governing and policy-making body of the party and meets at an annual conference once a year and as National Conference on at least one other occasion a year on dates and at a place fixed by the National Executive Committee. The bulk of NEC members come up for re-election at conference. We have not as yet had a conference this year and of course, the pandemic makes the usual conference impossible. However, it is past time that members were told when the much-promised online conference will take place so that they can register as delegates and ensure they are able to vote. I would hope they would consider replacing those who are bringing the party into disrepute by using their positions on the NEC to conduct personal vendettas or to clear the field of competition for their own candidacy bids or those of their friends. What we need on our NEC are members whose only priorities are the furtherance of the cause of independence, our country, its people, and the party.”

 

 

 

Gerrymandering of the NEC By the NEC

The election of the NEC this year has the potential to bring about fundamental change of the party in its present form since its NEC will decide the future direction of the party. The choice for independence tactics will be polarized into two factions. The WOKE activists that favour the “Gradualists” or the “Fundamentalists” who prefer direct action.

Anticipating the election of a significant number of “fundamentalists” the NEC imposed new and restrictive rules on branch management so that the NEC was enabled to veto and force changes to candidate shortlists so that a marked prevalence of WOKE activists would be assured. The process will be completed early in November.

This is the real reason the present NEC membership, (now choc-a-bloc with WOKE activists) postponed the Party conference from June until late November. They needed to be sure the fundamentalists had been castrated. And they might just succeed. In which case, there will be no further referendum before 2031 at the earliest.

 

 

 

SNP Members Quitting Over NEC Rulings Should Stay and Fight – Kenny McKaskill

The annual conference is coming and it’s important that actions are debated, and individuals held to account. To achieve that every member is required and those most aggrieved should get involved not leave. It’s not as if the SNP hasn’t been through this before. Back in the early 1980s, I was expelled along with Alex Salmond, Roseanna Cunningham, now Environment Secretary, and several others.

The current NEC needs to be held to account for the decisions it has taken and it or its successor must represent the interest of the membership, not self-serving cliques. The party belongs to the members which are why all should remain and change it from within. The rest of his article can be found here: {https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/snp-members-quitting-over-nec-ruling-should-stay-and-fight-kenny-macaskill-2933183}

 

 

 

 

Festival of Democracy

Malcolm Kerr – SNP Constituency Organizer in Cunninghame North published an article in Bella Caledonia giving warning that all was not well back at the ranch (NEC). He wrote:

The soundtrack for this year’s candidate selection process is the chopping of membership cards. It is a hard time to be an SNP activist, watching long-time local stalwarts become disenchanted, trying to persuade friends to remain in the Party, running out of excuses and defenses.  It doesn’t need to be this way. Following the December 2019 General Election, we were fairly certain that the next national election would be the Scottish Parliament in May 2021. We had well over a year to prepare. The plan was to undertake vetting and selection of candidates during the spring of 2020. For three and a half months, HQ posted a text on the SNP website outlining a candidate assessment process that was clearly not taking place. Now that Covid lockdown has been eased, the process is to take place – online!  Presumably with Zoom interviews. Sadly, Keith Brown was not intending irony when he sent out his May email to members entitled “Use this time wisely!”. This process could have been finished months ago. Approved potential candidates (i.e those who have concluded vetting successfully) need to express their interest in a constituency to the National Secretary by 14th September. There is a plus side (let’s remember). ‘Yes’ is now the preferred Independence option (at 54%), our First Minister has an unprecedented level of personal approval across the country for her handling of the pandemic crisis, and we have an opposition in complete disarray. As a nation, however, we have a reputation for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. For observers of the SNP’s HQ and NEC performance over recent years, we have come to expect very little. The slo-mo car crash around the 30th July NEC meeting was, even so, hard to watch, and not least because we have known for some time that it had to come. Any ordinary Party member can only glean small insights into what actually happened at the NEC. Minutes (if minutes are kept) are not available to us, but we can usually rely on individual NEC members leaking their accounts to the Press. Two items of business stood out.

Firstly the decision to deny James Dornan MSP the right to put his name forward for selection in Cathcart, the Scottish Parliament seat he has held and served for years

Secondly, the decision to discourage Joanna Cherry from seeking the Edinburgh Central nomination by requiring MPs to give up their Westminster seat when selected rather than once elected.

An anonymous NEC member duly released a detailed account of the proceedings, and it was not flattering to the Party hierarchy. The James Dornan decision was reversed the following day when it was found ‘unconstitutional’. It isn’t clear how the SNP’s CEO, Business Convener, and National Secretary had all failed to notice this flaw in the plan at an earlier stage! The salient features of this ‘handbags at dawn’ episode are that it was initiated by a faction very close to the Leadership and that it failed. There is also a credible view that the ‘Dornan Affair’ was only ever intended as a diversion to deflect from the core intent: pursuing an equally unconstitutional change to the candidate selection rules, effectively debarring Cherry from standing for Holyrood, as was her right. For some members, this chicanery has been the last straw.

George Kerevan gives a helpful account of what has happened to the SNP after 13 years in office. The shift to the right in policy terms has been accompanied by the rise of a powerful Party bureaucracy.  The policy is made by employed special advisers rather than members. Corporate lobbyists have easy access to ministers. With success in Westminster elections, a large number of MPs and their staff have become dependent on our opponents (the UK State) for salaries and pensions. There is a powerful system of patronage and a career ladder to keep aspiring high flyers in line and ensure their loyalty. My own extensive experience over the years confirms that Party HQ and the Leadership now have a deeply ingrained disdain for members and especially for the volunteers who run the branch and constituency networks. Associated with this is the large cohort of MPs and MSPs, their energy perhaps sapped by the routine work of representing individual constituents, whose focus and drive appears suppressed by a combination of healthy salaries and a position of relative impotence in relation to the tiny select Leadership group. The rest of the article can be found  here:  (https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2020/08/15/festival-of-democracy/)

 

 

 

 

List of Nominees for Office

(Names in bold type are Funday’s and worthy of nomination to the NEC if you support candidates who wish to retain women’s rights legislation as it is and who do not support the Gradualism agenda preferred by Nicola.  I am not sure of the Glasgow nominations and would appreciate input on this.

Conferences Committee (open list – 5 members to be elected) – Requests for Nomination:
Deadline: 13/11/2020 

Corri Wilson, Malcolm Balfour, Alexander Belic, Adam Cabuk, Christina Cannon, Roz Currie, Christopher Duffy, Ian Gallagher, Patrick Grady, Chris Hanlon, Delia Henry, Joan Hutcheson, Kenny MacLaren, Jack O’Neil, Munro Ross, Rory Steel, Subhan Tahir, Suzanne McLaughlin, Kirsteen Currie, Fraser Thompson, Danny Aston, Rosemary Hunter, Anne McLaughlin.

Conferences Committee (all-female list – 5 members to be elected) – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Rosemary Hunter, Anne McLaughlin, Corri Wilson, Christina Cannon, Roz Currie, Delia Henry, Joan Hutcheson, Suzanne McLaughlin, Kirsteen Currie, Catriona MacDonald.

Policy Development Committee – Outwith Scotland – Requests for Nomination:
Deadline: 13/11/2020

Jonathan Kiehlmann, Gordon Millar.

National Secretary – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Marco Biagi, Lorna Finn, Stewart Stevenson, David Henry, Morgwn Davies, Kirsteen Currie.

National Treasurer – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Colin Beattie, Douglas Chapman.

President – Requests for Nomination:  Deadline: 13/11/2020

Michael Russell, Craig Murray, Corri Wilson.

BAME Convener – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Graham Campbell, Sameeha Rehman.

Disabled Members’ Convener – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Jamie Szymkowiak, Scott McFarlane, Dylan Roberts.

Equalities Convener – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Fiona Robertson, Siobhan Tolland, Lynne Anderson.

Local Government Convener – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Jonathan McColl, Allan Stubbs, Lynne Anderson, Kelly Parry.

Member Support Convener – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Michael Blackshaw, Douglas Daniel, Simon Hayter, Greg Lennon, Susan Katherine Sanders.

Organization Convener – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Stacy Bradley, Robert Thompson. 

Policy Development Convener – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Chris Hanlon, Graeme McCormick, Alyn Smith.

Women’s Convener – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Delia Henry, Caroline McAllister, Rhiannon Spear, Susan Katherine Sanders, Caroline Keenan.

Elected Parliamentarian – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Tommy Sheppard, Alison Thewliss, Joanna Cherry, Neale Hanvey, Angela Constance.

Glasgow (all-female list) – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Christina Cannon, Lorna Finn, Suzanne McLaughlin.

Glasgow (open list) – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Malcolm Balfour, Christina Cannon, Lorna Finn, Jonathan Mackie, Alexander Mitchell, Rory Steel,  Suzanne McLaughlin, Alexander Kerr.

Member Conduct Committee (9 members) – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Malcolm Balfour, Amanda Burgauer, Michael Blackshaw, Declan Blench, Laura Doherty, Daniel Forbes, Cynthia Guthrie, Chris Hanlon, Simon Hayter, Delia Henry, Kirsty Jarvis, Sharon Kinning, Greg Lennon, Paul Leinster, Kenny MacLaren, Malcolm Mitchell, Munro Ross, Susan Katherine Sanders, Subhan Tahir, Elaine Wylie, Ellen McMaster, Farah Farzana, Robert Thompson, James Duncan, Neale Hanvey, Gavin Lundy, Caroline McAllister, Owen Thompson, Lynne Anderson, Corri Wilson.

Appeals Committee (7 members) – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Amanda Burgauer, Rod Campbell, Ewan Hamilton, Greg Lennon, Margaret Lynch, Lachlan McNeill, Malcolm Mitchell, Farah Farzana, Robert Thompson, Caroline McAllister.

Policy Committee – Glasgow (open list) – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Malcolm Balfour, Alexander Belic, Paul Leinster, Rory Steel.

Mid Scotland And Fife – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Roger Mullin:  Women’s List: Allison Graham.

West of Scotland – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Chris McEleny, Brian Lawson, 

Lothians – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Catriona MacDonald, Susan Katherine Sanders, Robert de Bold, Frank Anderson.

Central Scotland – Requests for Nomination: Deadline:13/11/2020

John Green

South of Scotland – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

William Mills

Highlands and Islands – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Women’s list:  Laura Mitchell

North East Scotland – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Dot Jessiman, Ciaran McRae, Kate Monaghan.

South East Scotland – Requests for Nomination: Deadline: 13/11/2020

Cynthia Guthrie, Morgan Davies