Such events — along with an ongoing police investigation that has so far led to the party’s former CEO Peter Murrell, who is also Sturgeon’s husband, being charged with embezzlement — have contributed to a drop in trust in the party, which is also seen as having presided over declining public services during the 17 years it led the Scottish government.
These were the circumstances that greeted new leader John Swinney when he took over the party in May. Few blame him for the SNP’s U.K. election result, but frustration runs high at the failure of leaders to reform the party’s inner workings.
“Despite the influx of money and talent post-referendum, there did not seem to be enough investment or improvement in the SNP as an organization,” Mhairi Black, a now former MP who was one of the SNP’s rising talents, wrote in the National newspaper.
“Instead, we got a decade’s supply of foam fingers, frisbees and pens.”
Others have taken aim at Sturgeon herself, who angered many party figures by appearing on ITV as a pundit on election night. High-profile MP Joanna Cherry, who also lost her seat, said she had been “dismayed” to hear Sturgeon distance herself from the SNP’s struggles by talking about the party in the third person.
“There have been some pretty deep-rooted problems in the SNP that ha[ve] not been helped by some major distractions, such as ongoing police enquiries,” said Fergus Mutch, a former senior adviser to Sturgeon and her predecessor Alex Salmond.
