A senior SNP MP has called for the party’s leadership election to be re-run after claims then-Chief Executive Peter Murrell shortened the race. Angus MacNeil is demanding a new ballot after Nicola Sturgeon’s husband was arrested as part of a fraud probe into party finances just nine days after the party’s 'preferred candidate' Humza Yousaf became First Minister.
The Western Isles MP believes the timing of Murrell’s arrest last week severely compromised the legitimacy of the vote, where Yousaf narrowly beat former finance minister Kate Forbes.
MacNeil said: “Peter Murrell appears to have intervened to significantly shorten the election process after the first minister surprised everyone with her resignation on February 15. We then had the issue of the media being misled on membership numbers, which led to communications director Murray Foote’s and Murrell’s resignation.
“After this, party HQ rejected a reasonable proposal to allow members to change their vote before the ballot closed. Murrell has now been arrested as part of a fraud investigation into SNP finances shortly after the result.
“There are clearly questions to answer here. If it is the case that Peter’s arrest has been delayed to allow the first minister to resign and the vote to take place, then that could have had a material impact on the election result. It seems unlikely that the continuity candidate would have cut it if all of this had been know beforehand.”
Just over 72,000 SNP members were able to vote on who would become Scotland’s next First Minister last month. Sources said Murrell, who quit last month as chief executive, personally intervened to shorten the leadership race to just a few weeks in the wake of Sturgeon’s resignation.
The timetable was announced after a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC). A source said: “A paper was presented to the NEC at the meeting in the week after Nicola’s resignation, recommending the shortened timetable. That was 100 per cent being driven by Peter, even if the paper was in the national secretary’s name. He was in complete control of the election process.”
Had the expected timescale of months been implemented, Murrell would have been arrested in the middle of the campaign rather than after the outcome was decided. According to the SNP’s constitution, nominations for the leadership race should have taken at least 77 days.
But under the new plan it took just eight days. Ballots should have been sent out 35 days after nominations closed but instead were sent out after only 17 days. In the original party constitution, members should have had 21 days to cast their votes but instead had 14 days.
The SNP’s rules state: “Close of nomination will be 1600hrs on the date that is 77 days following the opening of nominations. The exact date will be notified to all party organisations at the same time as notification of delegate entitlement.”
A source familiar with the internal workings of the party said: “There should’ve been 77 days of nominations, so that means when Sturgeon resigned they should’ve opened nominations until circa May. Then 35 days after that the ballots should’ve went out and the ballot would’ve lasted 21 days.”
Asked about the new FM, MacNeil added: “Humza could be a great leader, he could be grand, but it’s not about who won – it’s about the legitimacy of the process and getting the SNP back to being a democratic party that genuinely listens to and includes its members, its branches, its associations, in the running of things. I think there is a very strong argument for rerunning the election. It definitely needs to be discussed.”
The SNP, Police Scotland and the Crown Office have refused to comment on accusations that senior members of the SNP were aware the fraud probe into the “missing” £600,0000 given to the party was escalating.
Police raided Murrell’s home on Wednesday and arrested the former SNP boss at 7.45am. Twenty-five minutes later, Sturgeon left the home. Murrell, 58, was released without charge after 11 hours of questioning, pending further inquiries.
At the same time, police searched the SNP HQ in Edinburgh, seizing thousands of documents. Officers continued an intensive search of Murrell’s home for two days, removing dozens of boxes.
We asked the Crown Office – which is directing the SNP fraud investigation – and Police Scotland a series of questions over the timing of Murrell’s arrest. In response to enquiries over whether Sturgeon or anyone else was given advanced warning or whether any delay to allow a change of leadership was agreed, both organisations refused to comment.
Police Scotland said: “We’ve nothing further to add to our recent statement”. But no statement has been issued addressing any of our points.
It has since emerged the outgoing Chief Constable Iain Livingstone visited former Justice Secretary Keith Brown at Holyrood in the days before Sturgeon’s resignation. But the force has refused to say whether the fraud case was discussed.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “COPFS will continue to work with police in this ongoing investigation. It is standard practice that any case regarding politicians is dealt with by prosecutors without the involvement of the Law Officers.”
The SNP said: “The leadership election rules were voted and decided upon by NEC members and were agreed with all leadership candidates. No issues were raised with the party about the campaign’s timetable. All candidates have expressed their confidence in the process.”
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