John Swinney is going for a second bite of the cherry — and he might just get it.
After a dramatic week in Scottish politics, the veteran former leader of the country’s ruling Scottish National Party confirmed Thursday he’s ready to run all over again.
His main potential challenger, Kate Forbes, is now rowing in him behind him — meaning he looks on course to become Scotland’s next first minister.
Announcing his bid for the SNP leadership at a press conference in Edinburgh, Swinney said: “I want to unite the SNP, and unite Scotland, for independence.”
But that might be a whole lot harder than it sounds.
Here’s POLITICO’s snap guide to the man vying to enter Bute House as Scotland’s first minister.
Why’s Swinney running?
Swinney’s return to frontline politics comes just over a year after he stepped down from the second highest office north of the border — but what a year it’s been.
He’s vying to replace Humza Yousaf, who resigned after just 13 months in power following a botched conclusion to an SNP-Scottish Greens power sharing agreement.
A veteran politician, Swinney can pitch himself as a safe pair of hands — and his biggest potential challenger has just ruled herself out.
He’s already swept up the endorsements of SNP big-hitters including its Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Education Jenny Gilruth.
And Kate Forbes — who made her own unsuccessful bid for the leadership last year — had been mulling another go, but on Thursday afternoon vowed to join with Swinney and press for a “reform agenda within the Scottish government.”
Amid talk of a deal, Swinney’s made clear he wants Forbes to play a “significant part” in his team.
Despite that show of unity, Swinney’s vying to take charge of a party deeply divided on … just about everything.
If he becomes SNP leader and first minister he’ll face the tricky task of leading a minority government or stitching back some kind of coalition. Westminster elections are just around the corner with the party trailing in the polls. Oh, and the SNP itself is subject to an ongoing police probe over its finances.
Speaking Thursday, Swinney accepted the SNP “is not as cohesive as it needs” to achieve its aim of breaking away from the United Kingdom.
“That has to change. I could have stood back and hoped others would sort things out — but I care too much about the future of Scotland,” he said.
Second time lucky?
Swinney, who celebrated his 60th birthday earlier this month, is no stranger to the trials and tribulations of party leadership.
He steered the SNP ship between the turn of the century and 2004. But his leadership was widely criticized. The party went backwards in the 2001 general election and shed eight seats in the 2003 elections to the Scottish parliament.
Despite winning a leadership challenge later that year, poor European election results in 2004 and a perceived lack of charisma saw Swinney ousted by party apparatchiks – dubbed the “men in gray kilts.”
He’s been around the block
The SNP hopeful has been immersed in politics for a while. He became the SNP’s national secretary at just 22 and served as then-leader Alex Salmond’s deputy between 1998 and 2000.
Elected MP for Tayside North during the 1997 New Labour landslide, he entered the Westminster parliament for just one term, before making the leap to the Scottish Parlaiment in 1999.
He’s served in some big roles since then. Swinney was secretary for finance when the SNP entered government in 2007, and served for the whole of Salmond’s tenure.
That period covered the financial crash and Scotland’s bruising independence referendum — as well as a rapid ascent for the SNP in Scottish elections.
He’s a Nicola Sturgeon loyalist — who didn’t want the top job last year
Swinney kept his job when Nicola Sturgeon succeeded Salmond, and got a grand promotion to Scottish deputy first minister.
For five years he was education secretary during a tricky time which saw Scotland tumble down the rankings and two votes of no confidence over an exams controversy in 2020.
When Sturgeon announced her sudden resignation last February, Swinney joined her, leaving government and the SNP frontbench after 16 years.
He spoke about helping to “create some space” for a “fresh perspective” on Scottish independence by departing frontline politics.
Sturgeon heaped praise on his time in office, saying she could not have wished for a “better partner in government.” That quiet life out of the spotlight did not last long.
He’s no Scottish independence hardliner
Swinney comes from the gradualist tradition in the SNP, working alongside Salmond in the ‘90s to reform the party into a less urgent position on its ultimate goal of breaking up the United Kingdom and letting Scotland go it alone.
This school of thought prefers a push for more devolved powers for Scotland from Westminster, rather than immediate independence — with the thinking being this eventually translates into the end goal.
It’s at odds with the SNP’s independence “fundamentalists” — and the row came to a head for Swinney the first time he ran for leader in 2000, beating his more hardline rival Alex Neil.
Decades on, Swinney made clear he still believes in a gradualist approach.
“I have believed all my adult life that Scotland’s future is best served as an independent country,” he said as he launched his leadership bid Thursday. “But I recognize that more people need to be convinced of that point before independence can be achieved.”
He added: “I want to focus my efforts on reaching out in Scotland, with respect and courtesy, to address the obstacles in the way of winning the case for independence.”
