John Swinney has defended his Holyrood election campaign following an attack from Nicola Sturgeon. But the First Minister refused to say whether he had spoken with his former boss about her public criticism.
Sturgeon's criticism
In a new foreword for her memoir, the former SNP leader said the campaign was detached from the issues impacting Scots, as she criticised it for lacking “vision” and “big picture thinking”.
On Tuesday, senior ministers rebuked the former first minister, with Education Secretary Mairi McAllan calling the claims “nonsense” and Health Secretary Angela Constance saying she was “incorrect”. In an apparent swipe at Ms Sturgeon, Ms Constance said Mr Swinney was the best SNP First Minister the country has had.
Swinney's response
Speaking during a visit to Broughty Ferry on Wednesday, Mr Swinney refused to criticise Ms Sturgeon but insisted he ran a “strong” election campaign. He told the Press Association: “The election campaign resulted in an SNP win. It resulted in the biggest gap between the SNP and our nearest opposition party (since devolution).
“So I think, on objective data, it demonstrates the SNP ran a strong, commanding election campaign, we got a big win from the people of Scotland, and I’m very pleased to have led that campaign.”
He added: “The SNP has just won the election and has commanded the confidence of the people of Scotland with an election campaign that related to what I thought was the most important issue facing the people of Scotland in the election campaign, which was the cost of living challenges that people are facing.”
Personal mandate
Asked if he felt betrayed by Ms Sturgeon’s public criticism of his campaign, Mr Swinney said he was “delighted” to have his own mandate. He added: “I enjoyed working for Nicola Sturgeon as her deputy first minister and I delivered, along with her, significant improvements in the lives of people in Scotland.
“But I’m absolutely over the moon to have my own mandate that allows me to improve the lives of the people in Scotland and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” Asked if he had spoken to Ms Sturgeon about her comments, he said: “I’m not going to divulge my private conversations.”
Sturgeon's foreword
In a new foreword for the paperback version of her memoir Frankly, Ms Sturgeon said her party’s Holyrood election campaign was “detached from the big issues bearing down on people lives” while warning it would be a “a massive blunder for the SNP to soften its left-of-centre environmentalist credentials”. She wrote that the SNP “rightly put Scottish independence centrally as an objective but didn’t always bring alive the opportunities it offers for people in a tangible sense”.
She said the election was a “triumph for my party” but there are lessons in the result that it should heed.
Other reactions
Also speaking during a visit in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth said her former boss and friend was “entitled to her opinion”, but added: “I probably don’t share her opinion, but I’m very much focused on delivering for the people of Scotland.”
Scotland’s Health Secretary told PA she was “not correct”, saying: “I have been a minister for a number of years. I’ve had the great privilege of serving all SNP first ministers and what I will say about John Swinney is that we have the best First Minister yet.” Ms McAllan, the Education Secretary went further, saying her comments were “nonsense”.
Background
Ms Sturgeon stepped down as an MSP from Holyrood at the May election three years after quitting as first minister. In June, her former husband, who she kept on as SNP chief executive, was sentenced to more than five years in prison after embezzling more than £400,000 from the party. At the time, Ms Sturgeon’s lawyer said she was “utterly deceived and let down by her husband whom she had trusted”, adding that his actions were “beyond her comprehension”. She “remains angry, hurt and distressed”, he added.
