When Nicola Sturgeon gave the go-ahead to raising money from patrons and supporters of the Scottish SNP for the preparation of a second independence referendum, she never imagined that the sum raised would be exactly £666,000. Because according to the Book of the Apocalypse of Saint John, and as a result of it in popular culture, 666 is the number of Satan, the one with red skin and goat’s horns, of the seven-eyed lambs and multi-headed monsters, the one who will have “the Beast†printed on his forehead to be recognized when the end of the world comes.
For the moment, fortunately, no one has found a monster or an animal with the “666” tattooed on it, except if it is the mark of a cattle farm. But even the most incredulous supporters of the Scottish National Party (SNP) must think that there is some truth to the legend after the arrest yesterday of the former leader of the group and former Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon as a suspect in a financing scandal, the disappearance of the funds raised for a sovereign consultation that no longer appears on any political calendar. “I am convinced that I have not committed any crime,” she declared.
If it’s not exactly the end of the world for Sturgeon and the apocalypse for the SNP, it’s not far behind. The former premier, who for eight years dominated Scottish politics with overwhelming majorities, was released without charge, pending the development of the investigation, after several hours of interrogation at a police station where she appeared by appointment, like someone who goes to the physician, tax assessor or oral hygienist. She at least she was spared the humiliation of a raid on her Glasgow house, of being handcuffed and thrown into a police car in front of the neighbors. And as for the party, the disenchantment is tremendous among the bases, the new leadership has lost its way and is preparing to suffer a severe setback in the general elections next year. It stands to lose a good number of seats, with Labor the main beneficiary on its way to Downing Street.
“A 52-year-old woman has been arrested today, Sunday June 11, 2023, in connection with the ongoing investigation into the finances of the SNP,” said a brief statement from Scotland Police at half past two in the afternoon, when many British ate the traditional roast in the pubs, or had picnics in the parks taking advantage of a day of exceptional heat and sun throughout the country. SNP supporters choked on their food, the unexpected announcement of expected news. The unionists, instead, celebrated it as if their team had won the league, the collapse of an imposing figure who had dominated the country’s politics since 2014, and he left without warning and without ever losing an election.
When Nicola Sturgeon said she was leaving last February citing “the pressure of politics” and that she was tired, many frowned. She had to be something else. Some attributed it to the strong opposition to the trans law (similar to the Spanish one) that she had sponsored. Others, to the Supreme Court ruling closing the doors to their great crusade for a second independence referendum. There were even those who speculated with the desire to run a UN agency. Only the most perceptive saw the SNP’s financial problems as the heart of the matter.
But in both crime and politics, it’s a good principle to keep track of the money. And while the media (except for those most viscerally opposed to the SNP) treated the issue cautiously, by then the police had long been investigating the disappearance of the £666,000 that was raised to organize a new referendum when it seemed not only possible but likely, and in reality they were used for the management of the group and its electoral campaigns, without informing or consulting anyone, without asking for the authorization of those who had given the funds.
When the Supreme Court vetoed the sovereignist consultation, a patron thought to take a look at the party coffers, and discovered that there were only 95,000 pounds, the rest had evaporated. The scandal took shape. Sturgeon sniffed the toast, and walked off à la Jacinda Ardern (former New Zealand Prime Minister) with the excuse of pressure and fatigue, before being pushed, even detained while she was still in power. Soon he began to see what was really behind her. She was first arrested, in a spectacular raid on the family home of her, her husband, Peter Murrell, chief executive of the SNP. Then Colin Beattie, the group’s treasurer. It was only a matter of time before she suffered the same fate.
Scottish sovereignism is looking for a new course after the referendum veto, and has in Humza Yousaf a transitional leader with little charisma and little internal authority. The militancy is divided between those who opt for a “Catalan style†order (unauthorized referendum) and those who prefer to wait, reorganize and gradually attract followers, until at least 60% of the Scots want to break. Who else who least expects an electoral disaster, the loss of around ten or twelve seats in the general elections next year, although the party continues to be the most voted for by far. But those days when he held 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats in Westminster are long gone. The decline had begun, but yesterday’s arrest of Sturgeon has bottomed out. Citizens dissatisfied with the management of health and education, with crime and the deterioration of infrastructures, consider giving Keir Starmer’s Labor a chance (and their vote). The SNP needs a new strategy.
In the film The Harder the Fall, an unscrupulous manager leads the crude Argentinian boxer Toro Moreno to the world heavyweight title based on rigged matches. In the fight, the fighter is severely beaten and his purse is only $50. Sturgeon hasn’t come off too badly, but his fall has also been very hard, the SNP prepares to go to the canvas, and 666,000 pounds have disappeared from his coffers. If the United Kingdom had adopted the euro, it would be 777,000 at today’s exchange rate. And 7, in the Bible, is not the number of Lucifer but the number of perfection. Another rooster.
