Scotland on Sunday is in full unionist attack mode today, in the guise of objective journalism. Read it and the Sunday Herald side by side and you might wonder if they published in the same country. Kenny Farquarson is in his Cassandra mode, tapping the side of his nose knowingly and making confident forecasts about SNP defence policy changes, and keeping the kind of company that goes with his theme – George Robertson and Jim Murphy.
I have to say that little in the Mitchell Report will come as a surprise to anyone in the party: the age profile of activists, the strands of opinion on defence issues and on NATO. Anyone conducting or consuming a review of grass roots membership views and their demographic profile in any major British political party and expecting to find a monolithic consensus on fundamentals of policy or a party comprised of young activists was going to be disappointed.
I know from my own writing on the nuclear issues, on defence matters and on the monarchy (I’m in favour of retaining the Queen) – and the responses to them - that my core beliefs on these matters are not uniformly shared across the SNP. Like any social democratic party, the SNP is centre left, and by definition contains some views to the right of that spectrum.
Compared to the deep schisms and near anarchy of the three unionist parties, the SNP is an oasis of consensus and rationality.
The nuclear issue and NATO are defining issues for me, but since no other major party is anti-nuclear or anti-NATO in its policy, if that policy changed I have nowhere else to go, except to some fantasy land of a re-grouping of the left in a new party committed to Scotland’s independence before the referendum. So I will stay with the party to independence, whatever shifts it may or may not make in policy.
However, I have hopes - but not high hopes - that the SNP will move swiftly to a decisive restatement of policy on defence and NATO – the policy is clear enough – and will comment on the Mitchell Report. Perhaps it won’t, and will feel it more appropriate to keep its eye on the independence ball. I will understand that priority, but be disappointed.
If the SNP were to abandon its non-nuclear stance and compromise on NATO, it would lose part of its soul, and as the only major British party with a soul, that would be sad, and realpolitik would reign supreme.
And though they spoke with the tongues of men and of angels they would become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
(with apologies to Paul, to the Corinthians, to James Mason and Carol Reed.)
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Kenny's about as objective as as O grade Physics these days.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with you Peter on the NATO issue. When we know that the mustered forces of London control will use every dirty trick in the book to spread fear and undermine the self-confidence of the Scottish people it seems crazy to provide Cameron et al with the open goal that is pulling out of NATO. Withdrawing from an alliance that is regarded, for all its faults, as a guarantor of European security will allow our enemies to paint a lurid picture of isolation and insecurity, something that every other area of SNP policy is out to checkmate. Present policy on NATO is our Achilles Heel which means we have to fix it now. With a successful 'Yes' vote it would be up to future Scottish governments to choose whether to withdraw from NATO. For now, the time has come to shoot London's NATO fox.
ReplyDeleteThe Mitchell Report, which I contributed to as a member of the SNP a few years ago, can be downloaded from here:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/89osf7y
Regards
I believe the report is 4 years old - the SNP as you'll know has 21,000 members now.
ReplyDeleteI see no sign of the SNP giving up its anti-nuclear stance, if only because they genuinely see it as an anathema to their vision of Scotland.
Bonnie Scotland should not be either harbouring nuke subs or suffer the pollution of nuke subs.
One thing the Brit nat parties don't understand is that the SNP membership will get rid of anyone (no exceptions) if it feels it isn't getting the results they want - and swiftly too.
They wouldn't dare do an under-the-table deal that went against the principles of the SNP -- they'd be out on their bottoms in a fortnight and they know it.
No nukes -- and since there doesn't appear to be anywhere in England suitable for harbouring them, England may have to disarm.