The final debate of the SNP leadership contest, which took place last night, came after a weekend of upheaval for the party. The SNP chief executive Peter Murrell resigned on Saturday. His resignation followed that of Murray Foote, the SNP’s head of communications, who accused the party of telling him to make false statements to the press. And Ash Regan’s campaign team called for the contest to be restarted after revelations about falling membership numbers (and their cover-up) surfaced nearly a week into voting opening.
Viewers (or listeners) were understandably unsure how last night’s debate on Times Radio would proceed, given that the very integrity of the Scottish National party, and some of the candidates’ campaigns, has been under intense scrutiny.
The leadership contenders seemed far less like bitter political opponents and it felt, during the last five minutes anyway, like the future of the SNP may not be in too much danger after all
But despite the upheavals, the candidates appeared more unified than they have since the broadcast debates started.
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