Aberdeen South MP Stephen Flynn is ruling nothing out when it comes his future leadership prospects.
The SNP Westminster leader has been touted as a potential future leader of the party.
And there has been speculation he may consider standing for election to the Scottish Parliament in 2026 to further that ambition.
In an exclusive sit-down interview with the Press and Journal following a bruising election campaign for his party, Mr Flynn:
- Addressed SNP leadership rumours.
- Warned against SNP civil war.
- Reflected on ‘challenge’ to win back trust from voters.
- Brushed off criticism over social media post mocking England’s Euros defeat.
Mr Flynn emerged relatively unscathed from the recent Westminster election campaign, in which scores of his colleagues lost their seats.
And he’s been reappointed the party’s leader in the Commons.
On leadership speculation, he said rumours have surrounded him since he was a local councillor in Aberdeen over whether he wanted to lead the SNP group.
After achieving this, some asked whether he had his sights on entering parliament and in 2019 he was first elected as MP for Aberdeen South.
And they continue to this day around whether he might see himself in the top job.
“The thing that I’ve always focused on is just what I do, on a daily basis, which is try to convey the views of my constituents as positively as I can to, to be a strong voice, in whichever setting the I’ve been lucky enough to be represented to”, he told the P&J.
“And then when it comes to what the future holds, I fully support John Swinney. I was very keen for him to become party leader.
“We need to unite the party and take it forward and he’s got my full backing doing that.
“And, you know, I’ll worry about my future when the future comes to pass.
“But for now, I’m very much focused upon getting on with the job that I’ve been elected to do.
“And I think it would probably be a little bit disrespectful to folk in Aberdeen for me to be, suggesting I can go and do different things when they’re my focus.”
He said up until now, he has not considered making the move to Holyrood and his focus has been on getting re-elected to the Commons.
Mr Flynn, who said he was not ruling himself in or out of a Holyrood run, added: “I’ll worry about the Scottish Parliament elections when we get a little bit closer to that.”
SNP must avoid civil war
In the interview, the senior SNP politician said the party must allow space for “robust” conversations on what went wrong.
But he cautioned colleagues against descending into an internal civil war as it risks “turning the public away from us”.
Reflecting on the party losing 39 MPs at the election, he said the SNP had clearly lost the trust of the electorate who “wanted a change”.
While they are smaller in number, Mr Flynn said they will be “just as loud”, crediting the SNP group with managing to “drive the narrative” over the two-child cap ahead of the King’s Speech last week.
And he attracted headlines of his own across the UK for taunting England fans after their defeat in the Euro 2024 final against Spain.
Accused by some of lacking class over the move, Mr Flynn brushed off the criticism and said it was “very light-hearted”.
He added: “It’s just a laugh about the football and we should maybe try and separate the fact that some politicians have a hinterland beyond politics.
“They have interests beyond politics. They have a life outside of politics.
“In my regard, some of that is following Scotland, I enjoy that, and hopefully those people who can’t separate football from politics can really sit down and reflect upon why that is.”
In terms of his own priorities for the north-east, the Aberdeen South MP, said he wants to ensure a “prosperous future” for the region.
“That’s in ensuring we have an energy transition which delivers for the people who live here and we have that stability and certainty in relation to jobs and wealth creation in the years to come”, he added.
“That’s going to require a lot of discussion and it’s going to require probably being quite a forceful voice for Aberdeen at certain points in time. I’m more than up for that task.”
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