JOHN SWINNEY’S time as leader of the Scottish National Party appeared to be coming to an end last night after senior members of his Shadow Cabinet told him he must step down within the next few days.
The Times has learnt that senior colleagues have advised Mr Swinney over the past few days that he should announce his resignation at this weekend’s meeting of the party’s national council in Stirling.
They have told him that there is “no way back” for him after the dismal SNP performance in the European elections, the third poll reverse in a row, and the resultant blizzard of speculation about his future.
A key member of the party hierarchy said: “There is a view that next Saturday is the time for John to fall on his sword and I think that is the way he would prefer to do it. It is better that it is done in John’s own time and in his own way, rather than being forced out.
“This could now turn very unpleasant if he does not accept that, because there is only going to be one outcome. He has to be pragmatic. There is no point in him waiting until the general election in the hope of turning things round. The truth is that John cannot communicate anything to the electorate because he is seen as a loser and a useless leader.”
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The intense pressure on Mr Swinney took a decisive turn yesterday with reports that almost half of the SNP’s MSPs want him to resign and that only a quarter of branch conveners want him to stay on as leader.
Last night Mr Swinney was said by allies, for public consumption at least, to be still determined to hang on. “The situation has not changed,” a source close to him said.
“His view is that the speculation must stop and people have to impose discipline on themselves.”
The only SNP figure to come to Mr Swinney’s aid yesterday was Kenny Gibson, the former Glasgow list MSP who lost his seat in May 2003.
He said on television that the speculation had been stirred up a range of people in the party who had “never given John Swinney any chance whatsoever”.
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The only other public intervention by a prominent Nationalist came from Michael Russell, another former MSP and former party chief executive. In what was seen as a coded message to Mr Swinney not to put his personal future before the welfare of the SNP, Mr Russell said the bigger issue was between “what is right for him and what is right for the party”.
Meanwhile Jim Sillars, a deputy leader of the Nationalists in the late 80s and early 90s, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday Live programme that Mr Swinney must stand down. The former Glasgow Govan MP, who is no longer a member of the party, said the SNP faced deep-seated problems and the prospect of disaster at the general election. “It’s not just John Swinney,” he said. “Party democracy has gone and with it party membership has gone.
“ We are now in the position, unless there is an acceptance by the leadership that they have led the party in the wrong direction for a considerable period of time, then I fear the events of the general election of next year.”