HOURS after Kate Forbes announced she was stepping down as an MSP at the next election, two people who may have expected to face off against her in a future SNP leadership race bade her farewell.
For Stephen Flynn, Forbes’s departure was a “massive loss for our party”; for Mairi McAllan, it was the loss of a “committed parliamentarian, minister and advocate for Scotland”.
For both, it meant one less competitor when the contest to replace John Swinney (below) comes around. Bar a wildcard third candidate, it promises to be a straight fight.
There is no obvious political split between the two pretenders to the throne. Both seem relaxed with the party’s current policy offering.
Some superficial differences can be perceived: Flynn has won respect as an adept performer in the bullring of the House of Commons, though he is seen as a touch cocksure and his naked ambition is held against him in some quarters.
McAllan’s experience similarly counts for and against her. She spent just two weeks on the backbenches after her election in 2021, having previously worked as a special adviser to then-first minister Nicola Sturgeon. McAllan has served as a minister ever since, except a spell on maternity leave.
Her closeness with the current SNP establishment may prove a hindrance against the more bolshie Flynn, depending on the mood of the party at the time of Swinney’s departure.
In a contest without significant political differences, these differences in style and personality will take on a magnified role.
SNP members can feel relieved at one thing resulting from Forbes’s departure. The last leadership election the party suffered almost turned the vote into a referendum on whether her conservative social views could be accepted in the 21st-century SNP. It almost tore them apart.
They will likely be spared the difficult work of such deep soul-searching next time around.
