The Scottish National party (SNP) is accustomed to presenting Westminster dysfunction as a boost to its case for independence. But the political drama unfolding in London since May’s local elections, culminating on Monday in Sir Keir Starmer’s enforced resignation, has also been welcome for a more discomfiting reason. The glare of the spotlight on Labour’s internal revolution has allowed its own travails to play out in the shadows.
The five-year sentence handed down on Tuesday to the former SNP chief executive, Peter Murrell, brings a form of closure to one of the biggest political scandals in Britain for decades. Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, has rejected calls for an inquiry into Murrell’s embezzlement of more than £400,000 from SNP funds over a 12-year period. But unanswered questions remain regarding how Murrell got away with stealing from the SNP for so long. The party’s financial probity is also under scrutiny over the use of more than £600,000 theoretically ringfenced for an independence referendum.
