THE SNP’s head of broadcast media has left the role, The National can reveal.
Erik Geddes, a former journalist, had filled the role for the party since 2017 until his resignation last month.
A source within the SNP claimed Geddes had become disillusioned ever since the leadership contest.
It is understood that he has taken on a new career opportunity within a private sector.
Geddes said: “Last week I completed my notice period and said my goodbyes after six extraordinary years working for the Scottish National Party.
“Helping to create and deliver election-winning campaigns, leading the media team at party conferences and at events and playing my part in the SNP’s remarkable journey has been a great privilege, but it is now time for me to move on.
“I wish all my colleagues at headquarters, Holyrood, Westminster and offices across Scotland continued success and my very best wishes.
“I now look forward to new beginnings in a public relations role in the private sector. More on that in due course.”
Geddes had previously worked for the party as a senior communications officer, before briefly taking a role working in media for Edinburgh airport.
He joined the SNP's press team again in May 2017, this time as head of broadcast media.
Geddes’s resignation comes after Murray Foote, the former editor of the Daily Record, quit as the party’s chief of communications at Holyrood.
Foote wrote on Twitter that he had taken the decision to step down after a row around the party's membership.
Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, also resigned his role amid the row which saw the press told that the party had not lost 30,000 members – when later figures revealed that they had.
In May, it was confirmed that Fraser MacDonald, who became the acting head of communications and research for the SNP group at Holyrood after Foote’s resignation, had taken on the role full-time.
The search for a new chief executive is ongoing. Former constitution secretary Michael Russell had temporarily filled the role, which is now held by Sue Ruddick, again on an interim basis.
Commenting, SNP business convener Kirsten Oswald MP said: "Erik has been an excellent head of broadcast media for the SNP and will be missed by us all.
"We thank him very much for his many years of hard work for the party and the independence cause, and wish him all the very best on his next chapter."
