SNP Commons leader denies a vindaloo coup: ‘I don’t like curry’
The SNP’S new leader at Westminster denied plotting against his predecessor yesterday as he appointed his frontbench team, writes political editor Mark Aitken.
Stephen Flynn took over from Ian Blackford, who had stood down, on Tuesday with Mhairi Black as his deputy but he denies plotting to oust his predecessor although parliamentary sources suggested his tilt at the leadership had been canvassed for months.
Some Blackford supporters blame the machinations of the Tuesday Club, a group of SNP MPS, who play five-aside football every week, occasionally joined by Flynn, before having a curry.
Denying any plotting, Flynn said: “The Tuesday Club is a group of colleagues with collectively more than 150 years of membership in the SNP who are loyal not just to the party but to the first minister. There’s certainly no underhand business going on.
“I’m not the leader of a ‘vindaloo coup’. This won’t win me any votes saying this, but I don’t even like curry.”
The 34-year-old Aberdeen South MP told The Sunday
Post: “Ian made the decision to step aside of his own accord. What myself and Mhairi are focused on is what comes next and putting forward a positive, energetic approach to our campaign for
Scotland to gain its independence.
“We’ve got to take into consideration the scale of the cost of living crisis, which is facing people across Scotland, so holding the UK Government to account is of paramount importance.
“The group at Westminster is going to benefit from a bit of a change of pace, putting some energy into our arguments and really being on the front foot.”
Two days after Flynn was elected leader, the party’s longest-serving MP, Pete Wishart, quit the SNP front bench in the House of Commons and accused him of a rebellion to bring down Blackford.
Wishart said he was “bemused” why Flynn felt the need to change leaders when support for independence was near an all-time high. Yesterday, an Electoral Calculus poll put backing for Scotland to leave the UK at 54%.
Flynn said: “Pete is a long-standing parliamentarian and I’ve got a lot of respect for him. We’re very much on the same page in terms of making sure that, while those poll numbers are fantastic, we push further. We want to get to a point where there is an unassailable lead that forces the UK Government’s hand.”
Yesterday Flynn announced a reshuffle of MPS on his frontbench team, with Stewart Hosie becoming economy spokesperson; David Linden getting social justice; Dave Doogan defence and Chris Stephens taking on the levelling-up brief.
Alison Thewliss, who ran against Flynn in the leadership contest, has been given the home affairs role, while Stuart Mcdonald, who ran alongside her, was given justice and immigration.