Michael Settle: SNP’s culture of secrecy is now transparently toxic

The NEC is the so-called ruling body, which, we’re told, didn’t know the SNP’s accountants had resigned back in September. Johnston Carmichael also apparently resigned from keeping the books of the party’s group at Westminster. It’s a safe be, the NEC didn’t know about that either.

Nor, indeed, that Stephen Flynn and his chums are facing the loss of £1 million in public funds if they can’t find a new auditor to sign off the Westminster finances by June.

Indeed, Humza Yousaf himself admitted that he, as a Cabinet minister, also hadn’t been told about Johnston Carmichael’s inconvenient departure. Which presumably means others, who sat around the Cabinet table with Nicola Sturgeon, were kept in the dark too.

The party has told the election watchdog, the Electoral Commission, to which it has to submit accounts in July, about a “difficulty in identifying replacement auditors”. If the SNP doesn’t meet the deadline, it could be fined tens of thousands of pounds.

The departure of the auditors understandably raises eyebrows because it came amidst the police probe into SNP finances and just what happened to £660,000 raised by SNP members and meant to fund a second independence referendum campaign.

Read more: Yousaf’s main challenge is keeping SNP united

It was back in 2021 that Douglas Chapman, the Dunfermline MP, resigned as the party treasurer, complaining he “hadn’t received the support or financial information required to carry out the fiduciary duties”.

Around the same time, his Westminster colleague Joanna Cherry quit the NEC because of its “menacing atmosphere”. The Edinburgh MP accused it of being “secretive and evasive.”

It’s hard to believe it’s only just over a week ago that Peter Murrell, the ex-chief executive, was arrested and questioned under caution by detectives investigating SNP finances. One can assume he told his wife about Johnston Carmichael’s departure.

But then again Ms Sturgeon, when asked about the 30,000 fall-off in party membership – the media handling of which led to Mr Murrell’s resignation – told ITV News: “I didn't [know]. I wouldn't have been able to put a figure on the[membership].” Remarkable.

Back in August 2021, a month after police began their investigation, the then FM reportedly assured NEC members the party finances were “absolutely fine” and the ruling body didn’t need to discuss them.

Amid the latest unsettling revelations, one concerned NEC member unburdened themselves to The Times, saying the culture of secrecy at the top of the party had left it “looking like a party completely bankrupt of morality, transparency and accountability”.

“The ‘golden circle’ within SNP HQ,” they said, “have scored an own goal once again by failing to relay the resignation of the auditors to the NEC,” adding: “I struggle to see the point in the NEC when all we really are is a talking-shop to deflect attention away from those who are actually making the decisions.”

The Daily Mail also quoted a disgruntled NEC member who claimed party finances hadn’t been discussed for nigh on two years and that the party had become “rotten to the core”. Astonishing.

Needless to say, none of this is helping the SNP’s public profile.

The pollsters’ pollster, Professor Sir John Curtice, said recent surveys suggested only 68% of those who had voted Yes in 2014 would vote SNP at the General Election; down six points since Ms Sturgeon resigned her role.

Labour appears to be the main beneficiary with some 18% of Yes supporters saying they would now vote for Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

But Alex Salmond, the Alba leader, is finding it hard to restrain his Cheshire cat grin, eyeing an opportunity to scoop up disheartened SNP supporters as Sir John suggested the link between the largest nationalist party and the wider Yes movement was unravelling.

Certainly, the next opinion poll should make interesting reading. Not least because Mr Yousaf has decided to pick another constitutional fight with Westminster; this time over its veto of Holyrood’s Gender Recognition Reform [GRR] Bill.

However, the battleground looks unfavourable and could mean the FM faces a lose-lose situation.

First, opinion polls tell us Scottish voters don’t like the bill and, secondly, legal experts suggest Edinburgh’s chances of winning the legal argument are “weak”.

Read more: Yousaf's baptism of fire has just become an uncontrollable inferno

It may be remembered that the new FM confirmed he would only launch a legal challenge if Scottish Government lawyers told him he had a good chance of winning.

But Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Scottish Justice Secretary, gave a startlingly bad performance when, asked on C4 News if this was indeed the case, she repeatedly dodged the question. Which usually means only one thing.

Just to underline how, even if the FM were to win his legal challenge against Whitehall the problems with the gender reforms would remain, Ash Regan, one of the leadership candidates, popped up, tweeting: “The decision to challenge the Section 35 will result in a humiliating defeat.

“The GRR is deeply unpopular amongst Scottish voters and court action will cost a vast amount of taxpayers’ money. Losing 30k party members over this policy means it’s time for a re-think.”

Mr Yousaf and his beaten rival for the SNP crown, Kate Forbes, have urged members to stay loyal. But it’s not a good look when a governing party demands transparency from others but doesn’t practise it itself and that the instinct of the “golden circle” is to perpetuate a Stalinist grip on the party.

As those veils of secrecy are gradually removed, the political damage to the SNP seems to grow with each revelation. Unity and discipline become the first victims.

Sadly for Mr Yousaf and his colleagues, as events continue to unfold, this particular political drama looks as though it will only end in one way for the SNP. Badly.