SNP MP Joanna Cherry has ruled out a return to the SNP front benche following Stephen Flynn’s appointment as the party’s leader in Westminster.
Cherry said she was “sacked” from the party’s front bench team last year when a reshuffle was announced.
The Edinburgh South West MP was removed from her post as the party’s spokesperson for justice and home affairs in January 2021.
There’s been a lot of speculation about me returning to @theSNP front bench under the new leadership so I should make it clear that my commitment to chair the @HumanRightsCtte pending completion of current inquiries makes that impossible.
— Joanna Cherry KC (@joannaccherry) December 6, 2022
Writing on Twitter following Flynn’s announcement, Cherry said her commitment to chairing the UK Parliament’s Human Rights Committee meant re-joining the front bench was not possible.
She said: “There’s been a lot of speculation about me returning to @theSNP front bench under the new leadership so I should make it clear that my commitment to chair the @HumanRightsCtte pending completion of further inquiries makes that impossible.”
Flynn won the backing of 26 MPs and appointed Mhairi Black as his deputy leader following Kirsten Oswald’s departure from the role.
It is expected that the Aberdeen South MP will make some changes to the SNP’s front bench.
Flynn will face his first PMQs in his new role on Wednesday afternoon.
Cherry has been at odds with the SNP over new legislation which will make it easier to obtain a gender recognition certificate.
Speaking to the BBC in October, she said she was sacked because of a “very aggressive gender identity ideology”.
