Just what Humza needed on the day of his Big Speech to Holyrood: another arrest in what has inevitably been called the ‘campervangate’ affair. This time it was the party treasurer, Colin Beattie, who was taken into police custody this morning. The 71-year-old has now been released without charge, pending further investigation. It is the latest stage in the two year long police investigation (Operation Branchform) into what happened to that now infamous £600,000 sum for a referendum campaign that never happened. Earlier this month, the former SNP chief executive, Peter Murrell, was arrested and released without charge – pending further investigation – in what Police Scotland say is an ‘ongoing investigation’.
Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, had been treasurer for the SNP for 16 years until 2020 when he lost out to MP Douglas Chapman. But in 2021, he took over from the Chapman when the latter resigned only seven months into the job after claiming
