From the Speccie:
"Why indeed. Well, there are three strikes against Cherry. One, she was and remains an outspoken supporter of Alex Salmond, the predecessor, mentor and, until a few years ago, iron-tight ally of Nicola Sturgeon. In 2018, Sturgeon’s government launched an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against Salmond but was ordered to pay his legal fees after the Court of Session ruled the probe had been ‘unlawful’, ‘procedurally unfair’ and ‘tainted by apparent bias’. Salmond was subsequently tried on 13 charges of sexual assault but was cleared on all counts by a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh. A Scottish parliamentary inquiry into how the Scottish government conducted itself is now in its final stages and Salmond is expected to appear before it as a witness next week.
The second strike against Cherry is more straightforward: she is sometimes talked up as a potential successor or challenger to Sturgeon as SNP leader. Cherry tried to seek selection for a Scottish parliament seat last year but dropped out of the race after a party rule change that would have forced her to quit as an MP first.
But perhaps Cherry’s biggest sin is that she is a gender-critical feminist. She has challenged the capture of the SNP by trans rights activists (referred to by internal foes as ‘the wokies’), which has seen the party pursue a host of previously fringe policies, from removing medical experts from the gender identity process to allowing biological males to count as ‘female’ appointments to public boards. Nicola Sturgeon in particular has embraced this ideology with the fervour of a woman who really wants to be called ‘progressive’ by Gen-Z Twitter activists with blue hair. After a number of younger members quit the SNP last week, Sturgeon put out a video pleading with them to ‘come home where you belong’ while the party issued a statement saying: ‘We are sorry that we’ve let you down and today pledge ourselves to change’. This came amid a string of leaks to the grassroots pro-independence blog 'Wings over Scotland' documenting the next stages of what old-guard nationalists consider the woke takeover of the SNP.
Announcing ‘his’ reshuffle today, Sturgeon’s Westminster footman Ian Blackford said ‘team working and cooperation are key to ensure results’, a statement that doesn’t require much reading between the lines. It speaks to an intolerance of dissent inside the SNP, a party which once prided itself on its love of a good rammy. The SNP under Sturgeon is infinitely more presidential, managerial, and clique-driven than New Labour under Tony Blair. (At least New Labour believed in — and, more importantly, did — things.)"