Ian Blackford’s bad track record as a politician should have come back to bite him by now, writes Euan McColm.
Ian Blackford should not have been able to announce his decision to step down as the SNP’s leader at Westminster.
I make this judgment not because I believe the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber is a particular asset to his party. In fact, his personality – a heady cocktail of perma-fury and pomposity – makes him a particularly unappealing figure.
Blackford should not have been allowed to leave with dignity this week because he should have been sacked, long ago.
Announcing his imminent departure from the role he has held for the past five years, Blackford said it was time for “fresh leadership”. He added that, during his time as leader, the SNP won a landslide in the 2019 general election. The suggestion was that he had somehow been responsible for this outcome but, of course, he was not.
Scotland’s constitutional schism created the SNP victory. Blackford was no more responsible for it than you or I were.
Blackford has a bad track record
Blackford should have been dismissed by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon long before his announcement. His handling of a complaint of sexual harassment against the party’s former Westminster whip, Patrick Grady, proved him utterly unfit for leadership.
When a member of SNP staff approached Blackford, alleging the whip had groped him, the MP’s response was to call the victim to a meeting with Grady. This was an unforgivable failure to provide the necessary care to a junior employee who had suffered a most traumatic experience.
It remains a matter of shame for Sturgeon that she did not see fit to sack Blackford on the spot.
Many in Blackford’s constituency had formed negative views him long before the Grady scandal. During the 2015 general election campaign, Blackford’s team hounded and taunted sitting MP Charles Kennedy, whose battle with alcoholism was to end in his untimely death weeks after polling day.
Blackford’s ‘Where’s Charlie?’ slogan was a cruel dig at a man grieving his parents and fighting a terrible illness
It was clear long before the election that the rising nationalist tide would see Blackford defeat Kennedy, but still the nationalist team could not help themselves. Blackford’s “Where’s Charlie?” slogan was a cruel dig at a man grieving his parents and fighting a terrible illness.
Any replacement will be an improvement
Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to the “outstanding job” Blackford has done, citing his diligence, tenacity and loyalty. Furthermore, she asked him “to take on a role as part of the wider SNP team preparing the case for independence”.
If any doubts linger that the men in grey kilts forced Blackford’s decision, the award of this non-job should dispel them.
It is likely that MP Stephen Flynn will be the SNP’s new Westminster chief. Inexperienced and untested though he may be, Flynn can only be an improvement on Ian Blackford, a small man whose political demise should go unmourned.
Euan McColm is a regular columnist for various Scottish newspapers
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