The announcement reeked of desperation. Nicola Sturgeon is ‘delighted’ that the SNP National Executive Committee has approved her nomination of retired MSP and party grandee Mike Russell as ‘political director of the HQ independence unit’.
The statement, put out on Twitter last week, aimed to give a sense of momentum and industrious activity: Russell at the head of an elite squad of Nationalist campaigners who will deliver on promises of another referendum.
The appointment of Russell is not so much a sign of progress for the Nationalists as confirmation that their project to break up the UK has stalled. It follows the resignation, after just a few months in post, of Marco Biagi as campaign strategist for the SNP’s ‘independence taskforce’, which was set up in January.
Ex SNP MSP Biagi, a former Scottish government minister for local government, housing and planning, is still in his thirties, has a clutch of degrees (including one from Yale), and is known for his strategic nous and thoughtful approach.
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