Stephen Flynn and Nicola Sturgeon may be members of the same party, but they are far from close, writes Euan McColm.
Prime Minister’s Questions – the weekly parliamentary session when MPs have the chance to interrogate our glorious leader – isn’t a fair fight.
Opposition politicians may be brilliantly prepared, armed with devastating facts and figures, and bristling with righteous indignation, but the PM always has the last word. And, so, opposition leaders must box clever if they’re to inflict any serious damage on the prime minister.
This is something the SNP’s new Westminster leader, Aberdeen South MP Stephen Flynn, had better learn, quickly.
After deposing Ian Blackford as his party’s leader in the House of Commons, Flynn had his first PMQs in charge on Wednesday. And he flopped.
What, wondered Flynn, did Rishi Sunak consider to be the greatest achievement of the Conservative Party in government since 2019? Was it leaving the single market and customs union, ending freedom of movement, denying Scotland “her” democracy, or getting the Labour Party to agree with all of the above?
This might have seemed terribly clever to Flynn during whatever preparations he made for the session, but all he achieved was to present the prime minister with an open goal.
"Far be it from me to offer advice to a near billionaire," the SNP's new Westminster leader Stephen Flynn tells Rishi Sunak, before asking the PM about the latest polls showing growing support for Scottish independence #PMQs https://t.co/Ssyz8ybYHm pic.twitter.com/g1D1Ldc0A8
— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) December 7, 2022
The things Sunak’s party was most proud of were protecting the country through the pandemic, with furlough and the vaccine rollout. Flynn’s gas was instantly at a peep.
Of course, it would be brutally unfair to judge the nationalists’ new Westminster leader on a single performance, and it may be that Flynn evolves to become a blistering parliamentarian.
For the time being, it would appear that his elevation to the frontbench presents a greater problem for SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon than it does for the prime minister.
Flynn and Sturgeon should spend some quality time together
Flynn and Sturgeon may be members of the same party, but they are far from close. This is largely a matter of geography and age. Flynn is 18 years younger than the Glasgow-based first minister, and grew up in Dundee. It’s hardly surprising that their paths have rarely crossed.
Resignations from Westminster frontbench Sturgeon-loyalists add to the perception that all is not well between the FM and her new prince in the south
Flynn, and those who backed his leadership bid, seem to have been (at least in part) motivated by a feeling that they had been excluded from the decision-making process by Sturgeon.
The resignations – with the distinct whiff of jumping before being pushed – from the Westminster frontbench of Sturgeon-loyalists Pete Wishart and Stewart McDonald add to the perception that all is not well between the FM and her new prince in the south.
Sturgeon famously struggles to let others into her inner circle. She should fight this tendency, now. Not because Flynn is a major talent, but because a reality check would benefit the disaffected in the SNP.
Stephen Flynn has already learned that scoring a point at PMQs isn’t easy. He’s about to learn that breaking up the UK is harder, still.
Euan McColm is a regular columnist for various Scottish newspapers
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