EUAN MCCOLM: John Swinney is not the SNP's saviour… he is the definition of ... trends now
Twenty years ago, John Swinney was hounded from the leadership of the SNP after a disastrous four years in charge. Humiliation for the Nationalists at successive elections during the Swinney era saw him written off as a failure.
Today, SNP members have united behind Mr Swinney in the hope he can save their party from electoral oblivion.
The 60-year-old MSP for Perthshire North was the sole candidate when nominations to succeed Humza Yousaf closed yesterday.
Mr Swinney will now be nominated as his party’s candidate to become the seventh First Minister of Scotland. He will inherit a party mired in scandal, divided on both independence strategy and controversial gender ideology, and plummeting in the polls.
It says little for the SNP as a home of bright new talent that, in this time of crisis, it has dragged back to the frontline a man who, just a year ago, was adamant he had served his time.
An SNP ‘lifer’ – he joined the party at the age of 15 – Mr Swinney was a management consultant and life assurance industry executive before becoming MP for Tayside North in 1997. Two years later, he was among the first intake of MSPs at the Scottish parliament.
John Swinney and his former boss Nicola Sturgeon
An early reputation for competence was shattered when Mr Swinney succeeded Alex Salmond as party leader in 2000. For four years, he was undermined by rivals within the SNP. Unable to stamp his authority, Mr Swinney suffered a series of bruising election results.
When the SNP fared poorly in the 2004 Euro elections, a visit from the men in grey kilts brought Mr Swinney’s leadership to an end.
Fearful the subsequent leadership contest might be won by someone from the SNP’s radical wing, Alex Salmond returned as leader, going on to become the First Minister in 2007.
Mr Swinney’s authority across the party grew during its time in power. He was a member of the tiny clique – including Mr Salmond and his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon – that ran the SNP with an iron fist.
Announcing his candidacy to replace Humza Yousaf, Mr Swinney said he had come forward because of the need for change. His party had to change and if it didn’t, there would be tougher times to come.
Scottish voters may be sceptical about Mr Swinney’s ability to change the direction in which his party has been travelling.
The John Swinney who spoke in Glasgow yesterday afternoon, shortly after the announcement of his installation as SNP leader, sounded very different to the one who has so poorly understood the priorities of the majority of Scots over recent years.
Mr Swinney suffered a series of bruising election results
He spoke of his desire to work with political opponents in the interests of Scotland.
‘I will always seek,’ said Mr Swinney, ‘with respect and courtesy, to persuade people of the case for Independence. All I ask of those who oppose that vision is they also act with the same courtesy and respect.’
Jaw-dropping doesn’t begin to describe that one. When Ms Sturgeon succeeded Alex Salmond as First Minister after the 2014 independence referendum, she appointed Mr Swinney her deputy. For the next nine years, the pair were politically inseparable, as the SNP lost interest in the priorities of voters.
The No campaign did not scrape to victory in the 2014 independence referendum.
Defeat for the SNP-led Yes movement by 55-45 was decisive.
