STEPHEN Flynn is credited by some of his colleagues for overseeing a quiet revolution in the operation of the SNP’s Westminster group.
Since ousting Ian Blackford a year ago, he has taken a very different approach to Prime Minister’s Questions, opting for short, sharp jabs at Rishi Sunak over his predecessor’s wordier exchanges.
The Sunday National has been told that another key feature of Flynn’s regime to have made a difference is the regular sharing of research commissioned and paid for by the Westminster group.
A senior MP said they were “not sure what that money was used on" before it was spent on commissioning polls which take Scotland-wide snapshots of voters’ views on various issues.
They are said to show things MPs know “instinctively” and put in black and white the top two priorities for the party as it readies itself for the upcoming General Election, expected next year.
These are, in order, the cost of living crisis and the NHS.
The SNP’s challenge will be to attempt to link these issues in voters’ minds with the cause of independence.
Sharing this data with MPs has helped to focus minds, party figures say.
Under Blackford’s reign, research was commissioned to inform the party’s campaigns on the WASPI women scandal and a report on skills, among other issues.
One senior insider claimed the other side of Flynn’s research drive was partly to make up for a shortfall in activity because of SNP HQ’s financial woes.
The Westminster group receives a reliable source of income from the Treasury in the form of short money, which can be used for campaigning materials.
One MP told this paper: “The more information you have, the better equipped you are to fight campaigns.”
The flip side of this, said another MP, was that the SNP will be fighting a very different election than they did in 2019.
The last time around, they could capitalise on anti-Brexit sentiment in Scotland and a Labour Party in disarray to focus on hoovering up as many seats as possible after a slight bruising in 2017’s snap election.
Different polls tell different stories about what the SNP can expect come the next General Election, but the party no longer enjoys the near-certainty of continuing to be the preeminent force in Scottish politics after the next UK-wide poll.
One MP said the strategy for the next election was focused on securing the “least worst result”.
'A hands-on approach'
Flynn is also credited with taking a different approach to party management.
One MP said he has taken a more “hands-on approach” to group management than his predecessor and injected new vigour. They added: “He’s a bit more animated.”
The group’s once-famed iron discipline has not recovered under Flynn’s leadership. While there are still “personality clashes” within the group, one MP told the Sunday National, there is no longer an “in-group and an out-group”.
Flynn appears to have broadened the ideological diversity of the SNP Westminster group – reflecting the party’s “broad church” approach which Nicola Sturgeon’s critics say withered under her tenure as leader.
Earlier this year, he appointed Drew Hendry, who backed Kate Forbes in the SNP leadership race to replace Sturgeon, as the group’s Treasury spokesperson.
Meanwhile, left-winger David Linden was brought back to the frontbench by Flynn, after he stepped away under Blackford.
The Glasgow MP is often seen whispering into Flynn's ear before he gets to his feet at PMQs.
Meanwhile, Joanna Cherry, a vocal critic of Sturgeon’s transgender law reforms, is said to have been impressed by Flynn’s leadership style and is seen to have been brought back into the fold of the group.
Others say comparing the two leaders is an “apple and oranges” exercise.
They point out that Blackford presided over some of the most chaotic periods in British politics in living memory - a Government teetering on the edge of collapse at every vote during the Brexit years, followed almost immediately by the Covid pandemic.
“Stephen hasn’t had to deal with that,” said one MP.
