IAN BLACKFORD RESIGNS: A POLITICAL OBITUARY

A millionaire man rich in hyperbole, bombast and bluster who profited from the global arms trade and sought to protect sex-pest Patrick Grady

After a mere eight days having insisting he was going nowhere, the former Scottish National Party Westminster leader has announced his resignation. He leaves behind a Westminster group adrift and mired in ethical scandals. Despite being supported by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the loyalist has still been compelled to resign in what is likely the beginning of the end of the Sturgeon era.

Political beginnings: tormenting Kennedy

Ian Blackford’s Westminster career took flight in the General Election of 2015. Having arrived less than a year after the independence referendum of 2014, he along with many other SNP candidates were swept into office supported by a pro-independence voting bloc still dividing Scotland today.

The man he defeated was Charles Kennedy. Mr Kennedy was highly regarded as a man of courtesy, good grace and a razor sharp political wit. There could hardly be a sharper contrast between Ian Blackford MP and the man whom he replaced to represent Ross, Skye and Lochaber.

I recall the documentary Charles Kennedy: A Good Man Speaking, which profiled the late Highlands MPs life. The programme touched on the horrendous campaign of abuse he suffered in the final political race of his life. Curiously however, while documenting the vile campaign Kennedy was subject to in the final months of his life, it pulled back from fingering the chief instigator, Ian Blackford.

As Brian Wilson wrote in the Spectator, what characterised the General Election campaign in Ross, Skye and Lochaber was just how unnecessary the tormenting of Charles Kennedy was. In 2015 the Liberal Democrats were inevitably on their way out given their years spent in coalition with the Conservatives.

“What was so striking about the SNP’s vile campaign was that it was entirely unnecessary. The writing was already on the wall for Kennedy’s political career, like almost every other Scottish MP of a non-Nationalist persuasion. The 2014 referendum transformed dividing lines in Scottish politics, and not in a good way. While a 44.7 per cent vote did not deliver independence, it created a voting bloc sufficient to win almost every constituency in Scotland. That is the political rut in which the country remains stuck.”¹

The stark difference between the two men is revealing. Charles Kennedy had grown up in a remote crofters cottage. First elected in 1983 in a surprise victory ousting Tory Hamish Gray in his Highlands home at just 23. He went on to courageously oppose the war in Iraq, being the chief voice against it in parliament.

Ian Blackford by comparison was a merchant banker for Deutsche Bank AG, running its equity operations in Scotland and the Netherlands. The man who likes to present himself as the “humble crofter” is - unlike the man he instigated the hounding of - nothing of the sort.

Mr Blackford’s political career was born amid the unsubtle and vicious dog-whistle ‘Where’s Charlie?’ slogan. Where was Charlie? He was fighting a difficult re-election campaign having just buried his beloved parents months following the death of his best friend. He was also struggling to keep a family together whilst facing off against that wicked disease alcoholism.

Blackford’s attack dogs accused Kennedy of being “our own arch-Quisling” (a reference to Norwegian Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling). Slobbering Rottweiler Brian Smith, convenor of the SNP Skye branch serviced Blackford online, musing if Charles ‘has “a problem” that stops you going to Westminster?’

Again to quote Brian Wilson’s piece,

“There were vile anonymous messages attached to Charles’s car and pushed through his letter-box. When he returned home after the confirmation of his defeat, the bins had been emptied across his driveway. The level of sheer cruelty was beyond comprehension – and all totally unnecessary in terms of the election’s outcome.”

The whole point of mentioning this history is to highlight that Ian Blackford’s career took off by instigating the thoroughly unnecessary attack on a political opponent. When Blackford sang his ‘Where’s Charlie?’ tune, it represented a completely unnecessary personalisation of an already febrile election atmosphere in Scotland at the time. His unsubtle nod-wink attempt to make political hay out of a good man’s struggles was and remains disgusting. But that’s how Blackford began.

The not so ‘humble’ crofter

Following the string of SNP election defeats in the 2017 General Election, Ian Blackford went on to take up the job of SNP Group Leader in Westminster. He quickly became famous at Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs) for his dreary bombastic monologue-questions.

One example of his blustering struggle with truth during a May 2021 PMQs was when he claimed to be a ‘member of Scotland’s crofter community’. He did this in the context of accusing the Prime Minister of “planning to throw our farmers and crofters under the Brexit bus.”

The episode reflected his earlier cynicism back in 2018 when he claimed “I am just a simple crofter with 10 acres”.²

A reason for highlighting this is to capture the cynicism always lurking beneath the carefully crafted bombastic Bonhomme of Ian Blackford. Greg Hands, a fellow former financier of Blackford remarked

“‘I had a career in the City and I don’t recall him being a simple crofter at that time. Maybe that was his codename on his Bloomberg terminal as he was buying and selling financial assets.”³

But as the Herald revealed in its piece ‘unspun’, nobody was entirely sure which crofting community the millionaire MP was referring to…

But which crofting community did Mr Blackford mean? He has two homes on Skye, one of which is currently on sale for offers around £400k. The “substantial detached four bedroom property” is marketed as a “beautifully extended former croft house set within generous garden grounds”.⁴

Beyond the risibly grandiose claims attempting to mimic the humble origins of Charles Kennedy, Blackford has never ever lived a modest lifestyle.

You see, I note with interest that in the Register of Members' Interests Ian Blackford personally profited from the global arms industry. Mr Blackford is the sort of MP who would condemn UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia whilst profiting from arms sales. Some less forgiving chaps than myself could construe this as hypocrisy dancing the tango in stilettos.

According to the Register of Members Interests the ‘humble crofter’ secured £3,247.25 a month for eight hours work per quarter⁵. This was in regards to his second job as Chairman of Golden Charter Trust Ltd (1 December 2015 until 31 March 2021). Golden Charter had, during his time as Chairman, a large collective investment in Artisan Global Equity fund. That fund makes money from investing in defence companies including Harris Corporation and Raytheon.

Raytheon is particularly interesting. It being a US arms manufacturer whose weapons are used in … you guessed it… the Saudi war in Yemen⁶. That same war Blackford has denounced so heavily in the media, and demanded the UK government cease sending weapons to the Saudi Government. Guess he wants the weapons shipments to end…but while they keep on sailing he didn’t mind personally profiting from investing in perpetrator companies such as Raytheon via the Artisan Global Equity Fund.

Defending himself the ‘humble crofter’ explained to the BBC

“Is anybody really saying that people shouldn’t invest in British Aerospace, which is a company that makes equipment for the UK defence industry? That is just nonsense.

The SNP is very clear that the government should take action to make sure that we are not selling arms to Saudi Arabia. That is for humanitarian reasons, and is a very different proposition altogether”⁷

I’m not convinced by the argument that his personal business and political positions are separate, and not in conflict; on the basis he benefits from investments in weapons producers…but just doesn’t like them being sold to Saudi Arabia. (He has never made clear which wars he is happy to see UK weapons sold to). Also, he has never addressed the fact that Raytheon is a US firm and was also linked in news media reports to the Artisan Global Equity fund.

Put it simply, Blackford personally benefited indirectly from the global arms trade all while condemning … the arms trade in regard to the UK & Saudi Arabia. There is something hauntingly depressing that the man who replaced Charles Kennedy - who did so much to lionise the anti-war message in Westminster - personally profited from the global arms industry.

Protecting sex-pest Patrick Grady

Another event marking his time leading the SNP Westminster Group was his complete mishandling of the sexual assault allegations made against two SNP MPs. In the case of one, Patrick Grady (unfortunately my local MP), Ian Blackford faced claims of bullying the victim of sex-pest Gropey-Grady

“SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has been urged to quit over claims he bullied the victim of sex pest MP Patrick Grady.

The complainer alleged Blackford "stared him down" and "gave him the silent treatment" in the House of Commons after he put in a complaint against his ally.

He said: “Staring down and giving the silent treatment to staff that come forward with complaints made me feel as if I was being blamed as the victim.””⁸

Patrick Grady MP was found by an independent panel to have touched and stroked the neck, hair and back of a colleague 17 years his junior at a social event in 2016. He continues to sit in parliament. But beyond merely being irritated and frustrated that a victim of harassment dared to insist on being heard, Blackford also sought to protect the perpetrator MP.

Despite Grady being deemed guilty of his sex-pest antics, Ian Blackford sermonised to the SNP MPs that he “very much looking forward to welcoming Patrick back into the group next week”, and encouraged all SNP MPs to offer “as much support as possible”⁹ to the perpetrator.

And the victim? He has stated his life has become a “living hell” and threatens legal action against the SNP.

The sombre comparison between Blackford and Kennedy filters through my head again. The former is a stranger to truth, ethics and decency whereas the latter was a wonderful man of courage who honestly fought the good fight. I know whom I prefer was still with us as the Right Honourable Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber.

Twilight of the Sturgeon era

Ultimately the defenestration of Blackford comes today, Thursday 1st December 2022 a mere eight days having insisted he was going nowhere.

His resignation comes despite heavy support from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who backed Blackford just to weeks ago when rising SNP star Stephen Flynn attempted a coup to oust him.

Ian Blackford leaves behind him a Westminster group undermined by chronic mishandling of sexual harassment complaints and questions concerning his own personal hypocrisies.

The fierce loyalist is out, brought down by his own inadequacies and a capricious character hidden beneath the jovial bombast and feigned Bonhomme. But as at Holyrood, the SNP weakness is a complete lack of successor planning, although this represents a chance for a younger generation to come forward.

Ian Blackford and Sturgeon are both the faces of the pro-independence cause, and have been for a long time. His defenestration is well deserved and it represents the crumbling of the small circle old guard currently dominating the SNP.

But perhaps this is ultimately a case of plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose? The more things change, the more they stay the same…

1. Wilson, Brian (2021, 24 Feb), ‘Ian Blackford and the hounding of Charles Kennedy’, The Spectator, https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/ian-blackford-and-the-hounding-of-charles-kennedy/

2. Scotsman (2018, 30 Oct), ‘SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford mocked for '˜simple crofter' claim’, The Newsroom, The Scotsman Newspaper, https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/snp-westminster-leader-ian-blackford-mocked-simple-crofter-claim-234777

3. Steerpike (2021, 22 May), ‘Fact check: is Ian Blackford really a ‘humble crofter’?’, The Spectator, https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/fact-check-is-ian-blackford-really-a-humble-crofter/

4. Thomas, Ellen, (2021, 22 May), ‘Unspun: the political diary’, Glasgow Herald, https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19317472.unspun-political-diary/?ref=twtrec

5. Changes to the Register of Members' Interests, Ian Blackford, They Work For You, https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=25361

6. Amnesty (2022, 26, January), ‘Yemen: US-made weapon used in air strike that killed scores in escalation of Saudi-led coalition attacks’, Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/01/yemen-us-made-weapon-used-in-air-strike-that-killed-scores-in-escalation-of-saudi-led-coalition-attacks/

7. Scotsman (2019, 8, April), ‘SNP’s Ian Blackford accused of hypocrisy over link to arms sales’, The Newsroom, The Scotsman, https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/snps-ian-blackford-accused-hypocrisy-over-link-arms-sales-1420246

8. Hutcheon, Paul (2022, 25 June), ‘Ian Blackford urged to quit over claims he bullied victim of sex pest SNP MP Patrick Grady’, Daily Record, https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/ian-blackford-urged-quit-over-27322533

9. Miller & Grant (2022, 21 June), ‘Ian Blackford 'deeply regrets' SNP sexual misconduct case involving MP Patrick Grady and apologises for recording leak’, The Scotsman, https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/ian-blackford-deeply-regrets-snp-sexual-misconduct-case-involving-mp-patrick-grady-and-apologises-for-recording-leak-3740445