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September 03, 2004
Salmond/Sturgeon elected
Congratulations to Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon on a decisive election victory. I hope this marks the beginning of better times for the SNP, a period of renewed energy and determination, and a new and productive involvement in all aspects of Scottish political life.
Votes for leader: Alex Salmond 4,952, Roseanna Cunningham 953, Mike Russell 631
Votes for deputy leader: Nicola Sturgeon 3,521, Fergus Ewing 1,605, Christine Grahame 1,410
An appreciation also of John Swinney, a fine but unlucky leader. Newspapers and television would have us believe that the right policies bring immediate electoral success, that failure implies poor choices. This is not so. The SNP have to develop the best policies, popular or unpopular - as John Swinney did - and patiently await their chances.
On a different note, Mark Hirst of Abernethy (I trust I have permission to quote him) commented on the BBC News site:
“The SNP likes its fish. The two were mermaid for each other and it looks like the membership has swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker. Saying that, the SNP has a track record of electing a haddock as leader. I don’t want to sound like an old crab here but let’s hope this doesn’t mark the fin for independence or we’ll all be in the drink.”
And that’s the last fish joke that will appear on this blog!
Posted by Simon Holledge at September 3, 2004 12:07 PM
Comments
Hi! I hope also Northern League will see a massive increase in votes in the next election ;-)
Posted by: The Wonderful Italian at September 3, 2004 11:22 PM