An ‘incomplete narrative of events”. That is the key phrase in the extract above. James Hamilton’s report makes clear that the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, did mislead Parliament. Whether deliberate, forgetfulness or an error, she misled Parliament. The SNP is a party without honour. But it can be put right if the masses want it.
Hamilton accepts the First Minister’s version of events; she did not mean to do it. Why? Because she says so. This is a bizarre ajudication. One misleads or one does not. If an inquisitor says she did not plan to do it, it is not his role to suggest she is free from rebuke or sanction. That is a matter for the Scottish Parliament.
If Parliament considers the full evidence – from both Inquiries – and decides her behaviour was not forgetfulness at all, or a diary muddle, they can apply the severest of sanctions.
If Parliament argues she did not mean to do it, they can record a rebuke, no matter what action the opposition want to see passed by MSPs to rid themselves of an irksome opponent.
As it is, we have the Fabiani Inquiry also stating the First Minister did break the ministerial code, and Hamilton softening that to yes, but is was not malicious. In addition, the Fabiani committee state that Nicola Sturgeon misled them in some of the evidence she gave to them under oath. The perfect storm. Two Inquiries reaching the same conclusion, yet apparently at loggerheads as to the honesty of the the key protagonist.
The bigger question is this, what will the damaging fiasco of past months do to SNP support at the next election in May? Trust has been broken in the eyes of many supporters.
We have a legacy of crass ineptitude and political folly: the catastrophy caused soley by the SNP hierarchy, the unedfying smear statements made by SNP MPs and MSPs about their own colleagues, peers ostrasised, strong, articulate independent voices exiled and humiliated, millions of taxpayer money squandered in unnecessary court cases, women dragooned into perjuring themselves, SNP and Crown Office skulduggery withholding vital evidence, civil servants as trustworthy as the Kray Twins, plans to jail an innocent man, falsehoods scattered like marbles. This litany makes a great plot for a film on the abuse of power.
The reality of ‘moving on’ is brutal. A landslide victory for the SNP means a referendum of any form blocked by Boris Johnson and his eighty majority at Westminster. If frustrated, the SNP promise to take the issue to the UK Supreme Court, a path the SNP said was too hazardous only weeks ago. That will be many months away, and as we know, a mere week is a long time in politics. Who saw a pandemic arriving to distrupt society and life?
If a low ballot for the SNP, the party of independence that shelved independence these last four years, has no mandate to butter a scone, let alone hold an advisory plebiscite. I and others suggested consistently the election be made a plebiscite, a solid solution, one backed by the people of Scotland in a mass verdict, a proposal duly dismissed or ignored by the SNP. Instead, the SNP plan to shift a referendum into the far distance where it will be vulnerable to attack by the British state.
The outlook is bleak. The SNP remains a party systematically corrupted in its processes and trust. It will be up to the mass movement for self-governance, not the SNP, to fix things, to kill the virus in double quick time.
Some people choose to make a rational choice – vote for the SNP to give it a landslide majority, or put another way, vote for the lesser of two evils. But they usually add, lets leave the wrong doing and piss-poor policy Bills until after independence. This acknowledges corruption exists to be cast out. Leaving dishonesty where it lies only gives it licence to multiply and grow.
Lesser evils is not the end of things. It is the beginning from where you endeavour to get a fractured party back on the straight and narrow having thrown off the malodorous stench of duplicity and self-preservation. You do not hold your nose to vote. You use your vote to prevent the worst, you deal with the fundamental root of your party’s malaise. You begin the clean out immediately. This is the moment to remind politicians forcefully they represent us, they are charged with accomplishing things in our name, they do not control us.
Taking everything into account, including close study these the last years, with the exception of giving strong performances at Hoilyrood’s First Minister’s Question Time, I have witnessed a First Minister well out of her depth in the matter of achieving this nation’s liberty. This author’s view is that independence held in the cupped hands of Nicola Sturgeon is nothing but water. I profoundly wish I am wrong. There are many who believe I am.
Nearing the end of my life, I take some solace knowing shallow personalities and fame pass; a mass movement intent on a nation’s liberty may pause for a while, be derailed for a time, but momentum is always inexorably forward, pushed onward by people who seek natural justice.
Revolutions are unstoppable.
Hamilton’s Full Report
For those who wish to read all 81 pages and his letter, or only skim it to read the main sections, here is Hamilton’s assessment – click on the long link below:
NOTE:
The bitter taste politicians. Below, an example of a member of the SNP resigning his membership, his reaction typical of many another, disilluisioned and disenfranchised.
********************************************************
Grouse Beater 
Some time ago I would have been delighted with this verdict – Nicola Sturgeon cleared and we can all move on again. But since the first revelations that complaints had been made against Alex Salmond, too many other issues have come to the fore, snowballing into something too big and nasty to be ignored.
I’m not a big political brain, I’m not in the know. Often on social media I sit perplexed while other posters have cryptic conversations which confuse me greatly but I can’t unravel.
I have however been an independence activist since I was 16 and an SNP member for many years, long before 2014. I left the Labour Party in 1994 when John Smith died because I saw what was coming in the Third Way, tories by any other name.
I just feel sick.
There will be an alternative appear soon, strong voices who will lift up the dropped baton; do not lose hope.
such unflinching courage in looking at reality.
Disillusionment. You give the sods every break in the book, cut them a ton of slack, and still get stiffed. This is a party without honour.
It has been a curse Gareth that in our desperation for freedom and independence for our country that we have allowed ourselves to be manipulated not by some highly educated artist of illusion and creativity but by an amoral cunning sneaky self server with amorphous sexuality.
As in all great ponzi schemes there are vast amounts of losers suffering from the effects of unscrupulous unconscionable individuals but hopefully they all suffer deserved outcomes
I feel lost, without a party. I feel so let down. Where did my party go. We are left with useless, low grade, ignorant people who are not fit to serve a nation. I feel sorry for people who will lend them their vote and will be let down when independence doesn’t come. It will take a long time before people realise their dreams of independence will not be achieved by NS. By which time we will have lost momentum as most people will have learned to live with the damaging mess that is Westminster rule. What can be done.
Yesterday was such a dreadful day for Scotland. Firstly the news about Craig Murray and then the whitewash of the Hamilton business. What followed sickened me to the core. The gloating of people, the downright nastiness and hate and “I told you so” comments were hard to come to terms with. This last two years has revealed to me that the Scotland I was so proud of and some of the people have gone down very far in my estimation. I don’t see independence in the near future but maybe it will happen in my children’s or grandchildren’s lifetimes.
As King Cnut proved, the tide always turns.
Let’s be positive about the result.
Both Salmond and Sturgeon have been cleared, twice.
We may have our opinions on this, but just imagine the anguish and despair in the Unionist camp, the gnashing of teeth as they realise they have lost all their ammo for their carefully crafted election campaign of shitting on Scotland.
Far better for us to have a tarnished SNP running our country that any Unionist group.
At least we then have 5 years to clean up and polish the place. The alternative is a Unionist govt working to dismantle devolution leaving only the option of bloody revolution.
A vote is a powerful weapon.
Don’t abstain, the Unionists will thank you, instead hold your nose and vote. Make your protest with your list vote.
And there’s always Karma… 🙂
Only one of the protangonists was exonerated, the other was not, twice. Read my essay properly.
Feels like we’re all in the shit up to our oxters. The innocent are guilty. The guilty are innocent. And we all just have to swallow their pish and say it tastes wonderful because…independence, eh?
It is very depressing but for the sake of that independence I feel I must struggle on and keep calling out the malodorous SNP at every opportunity, in spite of all their sycophants who will try to shut down any dissent because…independence, eh?
I hope your personal news stays positive for the foreseeable future, and I hope you can put the political crap to one side and enjoy the time you have.
This is Scotland of the Enlightenment – the just among us will get together to renew the revolution … stay informed, stay optimistic.
it is hard to see any sunlight or to view any of these events with optimism.
It saddens and angers me in equal measure.
I thought my country was on the way to a bright future back in the heady days of friendly , joyous marches, now it has turned to grey dust .
Counter-anti-indy groups are marshalling their troops as I write … things will unfold.
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
We are Sovereign, and we shall prevail. I can’t wait for the fight-back to begin and we shall sweep them from the board. A true and just Scotland awaits. Thanks for your service to the cause!
The whole Bouroch is being celebrated as “A Defeat of The Patriarchy”. I see it as a victory for The British Establishmenet and Balliol-educated Lord Advocate.
Grouse Beater says:
March 23, 2021 at 12:23 am
There will be an alternative appear soon, strong voices who will lift up the dropped baton; do not lose hope.
Reply
If it’s what I as as a Scot living in NZ have thought for over a month, I will be more than happy, I will be ecstatic. Fingers, toes, knees & arms crossed.
Another fine and insightful contribution Grouse Beater, many thanks. Like you, I am also in some ways optimistic, which may seem curious to some. However, we have many fine people ready to take our nation forward, and who each know in their hearts and minds why we must do that. I am especially interested in the AFI approach to ‘max the yes’ at this ‘independence’ election: https://afi.scot/route-map-to-scottish-independence/
Related to this, on another platform today someone asked the question ‘what is indy’? To which I replied and share with you below. I do think the penny is finally beginning to drop for many, however there is still a need to educate Scots as to what independence actually is and what it really means.
What is indy?
Independence is sought by countries and peoples who are governed by another country and people. Being governed by another country is known as colonialism, which the UN maintain is “a scourge” (i.e. a form of punishment and oppression) that should be ended.
Independence is therefore decolonization.
Colonialism-oppression may take many forms including cultural imperialism (e.g. BBC, msm), linguistic imperialism (Scots are deprived of learning the indigenous i.e. Scots language); political domination such as Scotland’s enforced EU exit, forced to fight illegal and undesired wars, and to act as a weapons and defence platform for the ‘Administrative’ Power, oppressive laws restricting human rights, and the state persecution of independence campaigners; social aspects such as institutionalised inequalities, poverty, lack of opportunity (especially for native speakers), and a cultural division of labour favouring the coloniser/elite group; economic exploitation leading to economic under-development, and the plundering of resources; and may also involve occupation.
The most important requirement for independence is a people’s national consciousness, which reflects the existence of a national culture (including language). Without national consciousness there can be no motivation for nationhood and independence in the first place. Scottish culture and (Scots) language form the basis of our national consciousness and our (Scottish) identity, which cultural and linguistic imperialism aims to remove and replace.
As Frantz Fanon stated: “it is national consciousness which is the most elaborate form of culture. National consciousness, which is not nationalism, is the only thing that will give us an international dimension.”
So that is briefly what national independence is, and its understood rationale.
All of these issues and more are covered in my book: ‘Doun-Hauden: The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence’.
Gareth, stoicism serves you well in these dark and troubled times particularly as you continue to guide us through the fetid morass that excuses for politics in an SNP led Scottish Government.
Nicola Sturgeon has demonstrated by her deceit and contempt for truth that she can no longer be trusted to deliver Independence to the people of Scotland. Shockingly the SNP as a political party has provided her with that platform and it would seem apparent that the organisation have neither the wit nor the will to annul her tenure as leader.
The SNP have forfeited their pledge in terms of mandates given to them by the Scottish parliament and her people. The question now is to whom or what body we entrust our mandate as we surely must if the Independence of our country is to be secured.
Your unvarnished optimism may be the sole vehicle available in the short term generously fueled by self belief and the desire for our country to prosper unshackled, from a parliament in a foreign country.
On a personal note our thoughts remain with you here on the Isle of /Skye.
The problem as I see it , Robert, is the FM is not the whole issue anymore. She has gathered around her like minds who do her bidding, eagerly. Legitimate indy dissenters and peers of some policy elements are cast into the wilderness. All that rotting vegitation has to be stopped, spolied soil removed.
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Another very fine piece of work, Gareth, as per.
I wish I had your gift of being able to put your feelings down on paper (as it were), and make it work. It’s always a pleasure to read what you think. Thank you.
Yesterday was such an awful day – the dreaded three things happening that had my heart down at my feet… The 2 Inquiry Reports & poor Craig Murray! The nasty memes of SNP politician trolls, and the gleeful ‘neener neener neener’ thumb nosing of the SNP/Sturgeon fan club… Just made me want to go back to bed & pull the covers over my head, that people could be so nasty about a follow Indy supporter & PRO-INDY blogger who was potentially going to jail.
People I had defended against tory bullies & trolls, people I had fought with in the Great Scottish Stovie Civil War… were rejoicing that a fellow supporter was in trouble. I blocked so many people yesterday, where the day before I had simply unfollowed them as not being the same persuasion as me but not deserving of being blocked b/c we didn’t see eye to eye. Not a good day…
Today… today I have been grateful for the friends that have helped remind me that it isn’t wrong to care about morals & ethics and things like honesty & respect & not to trade them for Independence. While I thought that Independence was all I’ve ever wanted for Scotland, my friends helped remind me my choice to want an honest, caring Scotland that respects all its citizens, isn’t wrong.
I’m still downhearted and much as I’d love to think there are people willing to work to pull the Indy idea together again, I can’t help thinking how many MPs/MSPs are ignoring whats happening – or even worse, ones I respected (like Jeane Freeman) openly congratulating & fawning over a ‘vindicated’ Sturgeon!
So few seem to care they support conspiracy, lies & even threats to fellow members! But if there ARE, indeed, people who have the wherewithal and the drive to make a difference & give us a reason and a party to vote for, they’ll have my full backing!! Thanks for the pep-talk!!
I hope you’re looking after yourself! Probably have no choice, with your family fussing round you! LOL! But… we want you here to do this Indy thing with us, so no doing stupid ‘stuff’ that will just tire you out! x
Grouse Beater on March 23, 2021 at 9:47 am
“Counter-anti-indy groups are marshalling their troops as I write … things will unfold.”
Nicola Sturgeon is a latter day Empty Coat.
Who will be our Bruce?
I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling physically sick today.
Having listened to Blackford and Smith raving about Sturgeon’s “integrity” shining out, it’s obviously not surprising that many others are feeling equally nauseous.
On top of that, I’m still trying to take in Mr Hamilton’s findings, particularly on the subject of the Scottish Government’s decision to oppose Counsel’s advice and push forward with a case it had been warned was “unstateable”, not “50-50” as he has claimed. That Mr Hamilton didn’t find this move irresponsible and not in the best interests of the electorate is astonishing to me. It ended up costing us £600,000. It was reckless, arrogant but, worse still, it involved, not a “mistake”, but a deliberate departure from the official Civil Service Investigation
Procedures on the appointment of the Investigating Officer. Sturgeon signed that process off. The “management” involved in putting their corrupt – let’s call it what it was – process together weren’t rookies but very senior, very experienced people and, indeed, included the most senior Civil Servant in Scotland along with her “People” people in HR. The First Minister signed that corrupt process off.
Tonight the bold Humza tried to play it down using the “mistake” angle again, saying this was a new policy so mistakes could happen. No, they can’t. The new policy involved simply changing the procedures so that complaints against former Ministers could be dealt with. Once that was set up the existing Civil Service Investigation Procedures would apply. What happened was that Evans and Co made a conscious decision to depart from those procedures in Salmond’s case and invent new procedures. Procedures which, ultimately, would cost the Scottish taxpayer dearly. Sturgeon went along with it.
Elsewhere double standards abound. Sturgeon (rightly) complains of leaks from the Parliamentary Committee yet, when confronted about the major, major leak, from inside her own government, of the report on the Salmond Investigation straight to David Clegg at the Record, she had nothing to say! She doesn’t know who did that. She doesn’t know what can be done about it but, today, her SNP colleagues are calling for the investigation of the Parliamentary Committee from which leaked information concerning the outcome of their Inquiry!
Sturgeon is also complaining about the Inquiry Committee decision being “political”. But, wait, only four on the Committee were being “political”. Her four SNP MSP’s did no wrong. Seriously? They showed from the start they were there to make up the numbers and cover her back! There were certainly moments from the Inquiry we will all shudder over but if Sturgeon feared it would all come down to politics then why a Parliamentary Inquiry in the first place?
Why not a judge-led Inquiry instead, an independent Inquiry? An Inquiry where the Scottish Government wouldn’t get away with withholding documents, heavy redaction of documents and, yes, Nicola, playing “politics”?
I’m sure many folk in this debate have been voting SNP for much longer than I have. Just over twenty years here. The whole thing has been like an unfolding nightmare. For me, the biggest shock has been discovering what an absolute piece of work Nicola Sturgeon is, how utterly dishonest she is and how utterly confident she is that she is untouchable.
Watching her today, she didn’t even try to rein in her arrogance. She’s convinced she’s won hands down. I’m wondering how many people, like me, who once trusted her, are now absolutely certain we cannot vote for her or anyone connected with the Party she has turned into a monstrous thing.
As for the media, well, I’m not sure what’s going on there. Or what’s still to come. Have they held back on Sturgeon because they hate Salmond more but, once in election mode, will they turn up the heat on her then? Who knows?
What I do know is that the amount of detail, in the Committee Report, being overlooked by the media leading to Sturgeon getting an easy ride is considerable. Like Sturgeon, they are looking only to Hamilton’s report yesterday and ignoring what the Committee says. No one is carrying the can. No one.
What she deserves in May is to be taken out of politics altogether. There. I’ve said it. What the SNP deserve in May is to lose any chance of an overall majority, even with the Greens. What they need to learn all over again is that the people matter more than they do. What Nicola Sturgeon in particular needs to learn is that no one is untouchable. She deserves to pay a high price for rendering so many folk, like me, politically now homeless.
Absorbing reply, Katie, thank you.
Yes, the triumph of evil over good is unpleasant. Arrogance and hubris will uncouple the mediocre and the mischievous from the democrats.