Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry has claimed the party lacks "vision" under John Swinney, insisting it needs a "sea change" before it can succeed in winning independence for Scotland. Speaking at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, she said successive leaders over the last 10 years—including Mr Swinney, Humza Yousaf, and Nicola Sturgeon—had made a "real mess" in the party.
Cherry's concerns and past leadership bid
Ms Cherry, who is no longer a member of the SNP, said she feared her "life would have been hell" if she had defeated Ian Blackford in the 2017 contest to lead the party's Westminster group. She claimed she "would not have survived attempts to smear me" had she won.
Speaking about Mr Swinney, who became SNP leader in 2024, Ms Cherry stated: "I don't think there really is any vision." She told broadcaster Iain Dale that the SNP "doesn't seem to know what to do with the power it has," likening the party to former Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Criticism from Sturgeon and Cherry's future plans
Her comments follow former first minister Ms Sturgeon's memoir update, which noted "a lack of vision or big picture thinking" in the SNP's Holyrood election campaign this year.
Ms Cherry, who lost her Commons seat to Labour in the 2024 general election, did not rule out a return to politics. She suggested she might consider it if Stephen Flynn—now Economy, Tourism and Transport Secretary in the Scottish Cabinet—became the next SNP leader. She said: "Of what is available in Holyrood at the moment, Stephen is by far and away the person I would most like to see as the next leader of the SNP."
Asked about a comeback, she said: "I would certainly consider it if Stephen became leader, for example. I would hope he might extend an amnesty to many of us who have left the party and say, 'come back'." However, she stressed she was not considering a return "at the moment".
Cherry's reflections on her political career
Ms Cherry told the audience at the EICC: "I have no political ambitions in the foreseeable future. Lots of people write to me from the independence movement and ask me to come back, to wave some sort of magic wand, but there is a real mess that has been left behind by those in leadership over the last 10 years and it cannot be solved by one person, and it will need a sea change in the party before the party can move forward and take the country to independence. And I would like to see some evidence that sea change is happening before I rejoin."
Recalling her time at Westminster, she said she would not have stood for election if she had been able to "see into the future", citing death and rape threats. She said: "If I had known what I was letting myself in for when I put myself forward as an SNP candidate at the end of 2014, the person I was then would never have done it if I could see into the future."
Referring to former first minister Alex Salmond, she added: "If I could see what they were going to do to Alex, if I could have seen what they would do to me in their constant attempts to try to smear me, and if I had seen I would be facing death and rape threats, of course, I wouldn't have given up what was quite a lucrative and successful career." But she added: "I don't regret having done it for a moment, because I had some really exciting times in politics."
Recalling her 2017 leadership bid against Ian Blackford, she said: "Had I won that election over Ian Blackford I think they would have done everything they could to undermine and blacken my name even more than they managed to, so I am quite glad I didn't win it."
