The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Blackford favourite for SNP Westminster role
Highlands MP in four-horse race to replace Angus Robertson
Ian Blackford, the SNP’s pensions spokesman, is the front runner in a four-horse race to become the party’s leader at Westminster, The Courier understands.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is expected to unveil her reduced troupe of Commons representatives in London today but chatter within those heading south largely centres on who should replace Angus Robertson as their frontman after he lost his Moray seat to Douglas Ross of the Conservatives.
Mr Blackford, the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, was being talked up among his parliamentary colleagues ahead of an informal group meeting to take place today in the parliament.
Another front runner is Tommy Sheppard, the left-wing ex-Labour member who told The Courier last week the SNP needs to be more “radical” in the wake of his former party increasing its number of votes and seats north of the border under Jeremy Corbyn.
Stephen Gethins, the party’s Europe spokesman, is also understood to have been sounded out by colleagues but the fact he has a young family – his second child was born just days before the UK went to the polls – means he may not be keen on the role.
Joanna Cherry, the party’s justice spokeswoman, is another who has been mentioned, and was backed by former Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP Roger Mullin, although she is still recovering from wrongly claiming that a nurse who confronted Ms Sturgeon during a TV debate was married to a Conservative councillor.
One SNP MP said: “Blackford is proving popular amongst a number of colleagues and I would say there is a bit of momentum behind him.
“He’s a rural MP and clearly we have a challenge in rural parts of Scotland.
“The core vote has switched from rural areas to the cities and on paper he should have lost his seat but he kept it and defied the national swing.
“His swing was 8% against him. It was 13% nationally.”
The source added: “Over the last two years he’s really shown his stuff on the Waspi issue (the campaign fighting changes the state pension age of women born on or after April 6 1951).
“Tommy has been around politics for a long time but he’s new to the party and new to campaigning. He stood for depute leader a year ago and got beat.
“If we are going to have serious conversations about what we do around a second referendum and how we campaign, Blackford has relationships with the people who matter in the party and can have frank discussions from the word go. Tommy would be almost starting from scratch.”
Another MP said, as well as performing at Prime Minister’s Questions, the new Westminster leader would need to be an “ambassador” who could potentially mix with political leaders from across the world.
Whoever is appointed to the new role would be made a member of the Privy Council and the Joint Intelligence Committee.