There is an excruciating piece of video doing the rounds on social media showing the First Minister John Swinney being interviewed by Nicky Campbell on BBC 5 Live, and being asked the simple question: “How many genders are there?” In scenes reminiscent from the recent performance of President Joe Biden in the debate with Donald Trump, Swinney hesitates and stumbles over the answer, diverting to talk about transgender issues before eventually coming to the answer “male and female”. SNP strategists could only watch this clip from behind their fingers, not least because it demonstrates how woefully unprepared their leader was for a simple question which could easily have been predicted. It does suggest that much is wrong with a campaign on behalf of Scotland’s governing party, on track to lose the majority of seats they currently hold at Westminster.
It is hard to imagine such a scene occurring in the days when former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell and communications chief Kevin Pringle were in charge. Advertisement Advertisement Sign up to our Opinion newsletter Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. It is not just on questions of gender that the SNP have struggled in this campaign.
Independence is still line one of the party’s manifesto, no doubt in a desperate attempt to appe.
