Blind loyalty that allows SNP MSPs to spout all sorts of bile

IT is a dignified letter, genuine and from the heart. ‘No family should ever have to experience what yours has,’ Nicola Sturgeon writes to the family of Dougald McCaughey, who on March 10, 1971 was executed alongside two other unarmed Scottish soldiers by the Provisional IRA.

She is right. And no family should have to endure the sort of remarks made last month by John Mason MSP, who took to Twitter to tell a user discussing the killers: ‘You say Irish murderers. Others say freedom fighters.’

The First Minister knows this and in her letter of apology seems utterly ashamed of Mason’s behaviour. She even offers her own personal apology ‘for the upset that has been caused to you as a result of comments made by a member of my party’. As I say, it’s a dignified letter.

It certainly flies in the face of Mason’s own behaviour. He still hasn’t properly apologised, instead issuing the classic no apology apology in which he says he regrets any ‘offence and upset’. That’s right, John. You put out a waffly, meaningless statement and leave it to your party leader to mop up the mess.

But then, the First Minister does seem to have an awfully big appetite for humble pie. And it says a lot about her style of leadership that instead of doing what most other political parties would do in this situation – withdraw the whip, take away the support of the party and restore Mason to the quiet anonymity he richly deserves – she steps into the breach and takes on the sins of her politicians.

This is a great shame. Sturgeon has better things to be doing with her time, what with being First Minister and all, than run around putting out fires on the behalf of wayward MSPs. And given Mason’s track record – lest we forget, this is the same chap who last year said he was still boycotting Barrhead Travel because their boss voted No in 2014 and just last month was accused of trivialising rape culture when remarking about a second independence referendum that ‘the girl does not always say yes first time’ – it won’t be the last time she’ll have to intervene on his behalf.

What it tells us, then, is something about the priorities of the SNP. It gives us a peek into the one for all, all for one mentality that permeates the party, the one that means they will close ranks no matter what the issue.

It tells us that this is an SNP that is still utterly, slavishly devoted to the cause of independence above all else. Withdrawing the whip from Mason would be an act of leadership but it would also be a chink in the armour, a glitch in the SNP matrix. And with so much at stake right now, that cannot be allowed to happen.

It is the same mentality that sees most Nationalist MPs co-ordinate their Tweets and vote as one. It is the same mentality that ensured five of the six Nationalist MSPs who voted for Brexit never revealed their identities (Alex Neil being the only one to break rank).

It is curious, and fascinating, and ever so slightly unsettling. Because what it means is that this country is being run by a party that is still, when all is said and done, willing to swallow all sorts of bile from its own members in order to get what it wants.

And unlike the First Minister’s letter, that is in no way dignified.