John Swinney is leading the SNP to oblivion

As the SNP gathers for its conference in Edinburgh this weekend, its membership nearly halved from a peak of 125,691, there is a palpable sense of confusion and drift, laced with anxiety for the future. ‘Horsed’ is how the former SNP MP Stewart McDonald describes the SNP’s likely fate at the 2026 Holyrood election unless something serious is done to arrest the party’s electoral decline. But the SNP is without answers and most importantly without a credible leader after last month’s general election disaster. How, after losing 39 of the 48 seats it won in 2019, is John Swinney still in charge?

McDonald says the First Minister, who took over in April after Humza Yousaf resigned, needs to be a ‘ruthless bastard’ if he is to turn the party around. But Swinney isn’t a bastard, as even his enemies admit. He is well liked but just not the kind of leader to impose his authority. Anyway,