“SNP’s Operation Branchform: £600k Vanishes, Motorhome Seized, and Now a £95k Jaguar?

Scandalous Details Unveiled in Police Scotland’s Investigation Into Party Finances! Corruption, Betrayal, and Political Mediocrities Exposed

Police Scotland’s investigation into the Scottish National Party’s finances, Operation Branchform, is now well into its third year with no resolution in sight and no charges brought. Yet it continues to throw up new surprises almost every week.

We are all familiar I think with the “missing” £600k collected and allegedly ring-fenced for the next Scottish independence referendum (ha ha, as if that’s ever going to happen any time soon, if it happens at all) which can’t be found in party accounts; or the mysterious £110k motorhome which lay untaxed and uninsured on party chief executive Peter Murrell’s mum’s driveway in Dunfermline before it was impounded by PC Plod as part of said investigation.

And let’s not forget about the allegations of rogue purchases of jewellery, Mont Blanc pens, and even a deep freeze, all using party funds so it is said, allegations which are yet to be substantiated of course.

Nor should we need reminding about the arrests – and subsequent releases without charges – of, in rapid succession, the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, her husband and party chief executive Peter Murrell, and party treasurer Colin Beattie.

The picture of the police evidence tent parked on Nicola Sturgeon’s front lawn in the aspirational housing estate in Uddingston where she has her home is firmly etched in the Scottish collective psyche.

Now we have a brand new revelation which has added to already embattled First Minister HumzaYousaf’s troubles. He certainly doesn’t have his troubles to seek, that’s for sure, so yet another will hardly be welcome.

It transpires that the police are now looking into the purchase by Mr Murrell, apparently, of an upmarket Jaguar SUV, speculative value of £95k, which seems to have appeared temporarily on the driveway of the Murrell/Sturgeon driveway not so long ago.

It is not yet confirmed how this vehicle was paid for and by whom, but there’s a lot of speculation that SNP party funds may have been involved. We await Police Scotland’s conclusions with bated breath. It would appear, though, that the car was not long in whoever owned it’s possession. Having been bought from an Edinburgh motor dealer it was sold not too long afterwards via a well-known online vehicle website.

This may all be the thick end of nothing of course, but the purchase of expensive motor vehicles and then their subsequent early disposal does have the whiff of, if not money laundering, then certainly of attempts to get money off the books, for whatever reason. As Lady Bracknell might have observed, “The truth is neither here nor there, it’s the look of the thing that matters”.

Not that corruption, if that is an appropriate word to introduce at this point, only relates to matters of a financial nature. There is also, as any fule kno, moral and ethical corruption loose in the world. And I would suggest that the SNP is on at least a nodding acquaintance with both of these genres too.

Leaving aside the optics of a Scottish government minister’s recent attempts to palm off the costs of his private use of an iPad on the taxpayer for a minute, the fact that Humza Yousaf has proved to be unwilling, or unable if we’re being charitable, to give said minister his P45 in short order speaks volumes of his leadership, or more accurately lack of it. Never mind the blatant attempted fraud, we SNP lads have got to stick together, right?

Sadly, many of us are no strangers to betrayal and divorce, the curse of the modern world, but some of the shenanigans witnessed within the SNP have had observers rubbing their eyes in disbelief. For example, former Westminster journalist Serena Crowdy conducted affairs with two SNP MPs, Angus McNeil and Stewart Hosie, whilst both were still married.

Hosie was husband of now Scottish Deputy First Minister and Sturgeon best friend Shona Robison at the time. They are now divorced and Crowdy has done the decent thing and married her former husband. That Hosie has now signalled his intention to stand down from Westminster at the next General Election (May 2nd next year, folks, get your bets in early) is fine, but the fact that his new wife is angling to replace him in the House of Commons tells you all you need to know.

I could go on, but it’s akin to shooting fish in a barrel. It’s just too easy to highlight the calamitous record of the SNP both at Westminster and in government in Scotland.

The only mystery is why people keep voting for them. We can’t just dismiss the plebs sordida as an unthinking, ignorant rabble. There must be more to it than that. I have long held the view that those most in favour of Scottish independence tend to be those who have the least to lose. If you are a single parent living in a damp flat in a sink estate with two screaming kids then naturally you need to vent and lash out.

Westminster, the “Toarries”, and the English provide convenient targets for that ire, and sticking it on them by voting for independence is one way of getting your own back. I sympathise. Life isn’t fair, unfortunately, but a better target might be the inadequate shower that currently inhabits the Scottish parliament. Just saying.

How will this all end? I have no panacea to offer, but I’m pretty sure that comfortably off, private school-educated, middle-class Scots will continue to be not much affected by it. They can well afford all the “free” stuff in Scotland that the SNP boasts about but are stymied because there is no mechanism whereby they can pay for their prescriptions and eye examinations. I know because I have tried.

I sometimes despair. Scotland is awash with talented people who could fulfil government ministerial positions so much better than the current incumbents. The problem is that it isn’t an attractive option for them. Quite understandably they have no desire to be tainted by the mediocrity of it all and prefer to spend their time on the golf course.

As the Greek philosopher Plato wisely observed; “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”.

The truth of his pronouncement is writ large in Scotland today.

Lt Col Stuart Crawford is a defence analyst and former army officer. Sign up for his podcasts and newsletters at www.DefenceReview.uk

 

 

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