SNP leadership campaign

[RoyalCorgi]

I thought it would be fun for the leadership campaign to have its own thread.

According to Wikipedia, the timetable for the election is:

"Nominations opened on 16 February, and will close on 24 February. Those nominated will then be put forward as options in a ballot of party members, which will open on 13 March, and close at noon on 27 March, with the result announced on the same day by the SNP's national secretary, Lorna Finn."

So quite a short campaign. I don't completely understand how the voting works - it's not first past the post, but a "type of single transferable vote", according to Wiki, which is clear as mud.

Kate Forbes seems to have lost some key supporters by saying she was opposed to same-sex marriage, which perhaps means some of them will transfer to Ash Regan. The only other candidate is our old chum Humza Yousaf, author of one of the most deranged and authoritarian pieces of legislation, the Hate Crime and Public OrderAct, to pass through a UK legislative body in the past 100 years.

Those of you in Scotland, how do you see this playing out?

Have you noticed the way they have pivoted to arguing about gay marriage?

Why don’t they want to criticise Forbes and Regan for opposing the GRR?

Piggybacking.

The live polls are hugely favourable towards Forbes in this article:

Nicola Sturgeon breaks vow to keep out of SNP leadership race

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c23164c0-b308-11ed-8771-87233f7ef731?shareToken=9e3584468d68b67e70460c4c26e57cdb

"Sturgeon signalled that her finance secretary’s opposition to gay unions and having children out of wedlock was at odds with “majority opinion”. The first minister said Scots look to their leaders to “stand up for them and their rights”. By choosing to comment on the controversy engulfing Forbes — who said she personally considers it wrong for children to be born outside marriage because of her faith as a member of the Free Church of Scotland — Sturgeon has effectively broken her pledge not to endorse a successor.

Responding to questions about Forbes’s beliefs last night, Sturgeon said: “Scotland is a socially progressive country and I believe that is the majority opinion. Whoever is first minister, the views that they have on all sorts of issues matter because people look to their first minister to see someone who will stand up for them and their rights and the job of first minister on a daily basis involves responding to things based on your positions, your values, your outlooks.”"

I would like a journalist to ask Humza directly for his views on same sex marriage.
Why is this not happening??

Oh just seen that he says he supports it- just managed to avoid the vote however

He dodged the vote deliberately as he's against gay marriage. He just lies about it unlike Forbes.

twitter.com/OkBiology/status/1628020198304251907?s=20

I find this video chilling.

I don't see any difference between Forbe's beliefs and Humza's beliefs in gender ideology, or at least his adherence to it. Humza's is at least as homophobic as Forbe's are alleged to be imo. Forbe's though are, arguably, less dangerous to the bodies of gay children.

It is incredibly chilling. In your own home is where you talk things through and come to an understanding about things - including fairness, equality, acceptance, political ideas, religious ideas, what it is to be human etc.

Promoting thought control, policing language, in your own home Humza - is that ok?

and who is doing the listening? looking suspisciously at Alexa 😂

This is what will happen.

Yes

It's pure bullying. Using threat and coercion to exert a chilling effect on people, suggesting there are thoughts that are verboten, that there is nowhere that one can escape the eye of Big Brother. Also cynically abusing the very real issues of racism and homophobia as tools to exert his authority.

Arabella - couldn't agree more

I was listening to Helen Joyce speaking - I can't quite remember the words she used, so this is paraphrasing, but something like - when an authoritarian regime takes power, we all have to decide how we respond - something like that.

I find it very disturbing when I see these tendencies in the UK. There is an authoritarianism. The thing I really respected most about our democracy has been the ability to question to think things through to discuss and debate. The majority of people are fair minded and kind, and will come to the right decision if as much information on an issue as possible is available. But what Humza promotes is thought control.

He does. He's a dangerous idiot. What I'm clinging to is the fact that he doesn't seem to have the brains, charisma or staying power to do too much damage when he's handed the leadership.

I don’t think anyone has ever considered Yousaf a political heavyweight. All the more striking that he’s suddenly propelled as potential first minister. Especially since rumours are going around that he’s allegedly been shagging an MP who isn’t his wife.

Sturgeon’s departure definitely wasn’t planned to go like this. I wonder when we will find out what pushed her into resigning.

This. All day long...

Ash Regan has secured enough nominations to run.

twitter.com/AshReganSNP/status/1628838827304316929?cxt=HHwWgsCznZKS5potAAAA

Good

twitter.com/FacundoSavala/status/1628682902010580992

For absolutely no reason, here's a nice wee photo of family man Humza Yousaf, alongside his close friend and former staffer Anum Qaisar

Humza Yousaf's old islamist connections have also received an airing in recent days.
twitter.com/WasiqUK/status/1628869506570256385

Holy moly. Makes Labour's anti-semitism scuffles pale into the background, surely?

Not really. A lot of these people claim to have been on a journey of learning and British society is too frightened to ask deeper questions. The blog I write for has tracked Yousaf and chums from 2011 to 2016; here's some articles.
hurryupharry.net/?s=humza+yousaf

Interesting, thanks!

Claims that Humza Yousaf engineered things to evade participating in voting on same sex marriage have moved into the mainstream:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/snp-leadership-humza-yousaf-challenged-by-alex-neil-over-gay-marriage-vote-hdwvhx95f

Yousaf is under pressure to explain why he did not show up for the final vote on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act in 2014.

He said the Muslim community did not offer a “homogeneous view” on same-sex marriage or influence his decision to attend a ministerial engagement rather than vote on the bill.

He claimed he had an “unavoidable” meeting with the consul of Pakistan to discuss a Scot who was on death row.^

Alex Neil, the former SNP health secretary who piloted the bill through parliament, insisted “this is not true” and “Humza deliberately skipped the vote”.

The article can be found at archive dot fo.