Purposes and priorities

So the Tories are set for third place in next May’s Holyrood elections. So what? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter at all which of the British parties comes second so long as the British parties are prevented from seizing power.

It doesn’t matter who comes third in the polls for the same reason It doesn’t matter who comes second. Who comes third in the election matters even less than who comes second. So long as they are not in a position to combine in order to take power, it doesn’t matter.

In the context of the fight to restore Scotland’s independence, it doesn’t matter if the SNP win. It doesn’t matter if they win by a huge margin. It’s essential that the SNP wins. But only because this ensures that the British parties lose.

In the context of the fight to restore Scotland’s independence it doesn’t matter if the SNP wins. It should matter. It should matter that the SNP wins with an overwhelming majority of both seats and votes. That should be what best serves the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. But only if the SNP is prepared for the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. Only if the SNP is prepared to fight to restore Scotland’s independence.

As things stand, the SNP is not prepared for the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. There is no plan – secret or otherwise. There just is no plan. There has been no planning for what should be the final stages of the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. Not all the fine rhetoric from Keith Brown can conceal this lack of preparation.

As things stand, the SNP is not prepared to fight for the restoration of Scotland’s independence. Not all the fine rhetoric from Keith Brown can conceal this lack of resolve.

As things stand, the fight to restore Scotland is lost. At best, it’s stalemate. Stalemate favours the British. Time is on their side. The moment has come for the fight to restore Scotland’s independence to enter its final stages. As things stand, the SNP is neither able nor willing to take forward the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. Not all the fine rhetoric from Keith Brown can persuade me otherwise.

It is true that all the pieces are in place for the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. Everything is there. Everything except the preparation and the resolve. If the SNP is neither ready nor willing to proceed to the final stages of the fight to restore Scotland’s independence, it doesn’t matter. None of it matters. The best we might hope for is another five years of fine rhetoric from Keith Brown… and nothing more. The restoration of Scotland’s independence will remain no more than a tantalising prospect.

As things stand, the restoration of Scotland’s independence being no more than a tantalising prospect suits the leadership and senior management of the SNP. Their primary concern is maintaining electoral dominance and winning elections. The restoration of Scotland’s independence being no more than a tantalising prospect serves this purpose very well. All the fine rhetoric from Keith Brown serves this purpose very well.

It is not that the leadership and senior management of the SNP has changed sides. It is not that the SNP has stopped being the party of independence. It’s just that, as things stand, the restoration of Scotland’s independence best serves the interests of the leadership and senior management of the SNP if it is kept as no more than a tantalising prospect.

There is no conspiracy within the upper echelons of the SNP to thwart or abandon the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. It’s only that the leadership and management of the SNP are subject to imperatives other than the imperatives of the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. If keeping the restoration of Scotland’s independence no more than a tantalising prospect is what best serves the priorities of the party led and managed by people whose primary imperative is to serve the party as an organisation, then keeping the restoration of Scotland’s independence as no more than a tantalising prospect will tend to be the end towards which the party as an organisation will work regardless of the declared intentions or genuine sentiments of any of the individuals leading and managing the party.

This must change. The SNP conference provides the means to change it. Delegates to the SNP conference have the power to change it. Delegates have a responsibility to change it. The leadership and senior management of the SNP need to be reminded – as forcefully as may be necessary – that their priorities are the priorities of the party. And that the priorities of the party are the priorities of the membership of the party. They need to be reminded – as emphatically as may be possible – that the party is more than a political organisation; it is the political arm of a movement.

The leadership and senior management of the SNP need to be told by conference delegates – in such terms and in such a manner as to leave them in no doubt – that appreciative as the membership may be of their efforts to serve the party as a political organisation, the time has come for the SNP to serve its purpose as the political arm of the fight to restore Scotland’s independence.

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