Sturgeon: Sincere or sleekit? You decide.

AN EXTRACT from Firstminster’s questions yesterday:

By Longshanker aka @ergasiophobe

TRUST ME! That was the crux of Sturgeon’s weak defence at FMQs yesterday.

Despite the Presiding Officer giving the Firstminster an unprecedented ‘out’, the Scottish Nationalist Party leader, instead, opted to evade head-on the public’s thirst for information on what she knew or didn’t know about Michelle Thomson MP’s business dealings.

She must think the people of Scotland’s collective heids zip up the back. (Though, given the reaction on social media, some clearly do.)

There are many pressing issues being forced on Scotland today. One of them is the risible belief that the SNP hold some sort of political moral high ground and can point the finger of puritanism and righteousness at the immorality and social injustice of their Unionist opposition.

No longer.

The predatory business conduct of Michelle Thomson – leaving any alleged illegalities aside – demonstrates that the Nationalists are no better than those they accuse of civic misgivings.

For Nicola Sturgeon to waste parliament and the country’s time evading the question of the ‘morality’ of Thomson’s business dealings – assuming they were legitimate – was an insult to every man, woman and child in the country whose concerns are ignored in the pursuit of political damage limitation.

FMQs is supposed to be the chance for the SNP government to showcase their probity and how competently they are running the devolved elements of the country.

Sturgeon’s lack of credible answers yesterday was damning.

Kezia Dugdale asked: “Can the First Minister tell parliament if anybody in the SNP, whether it’s Nicola Sturgeon herself, SNP politicians or SNP officials at any level, were aware of Michelle Thomson’s allegations before they were printed in the Sunday Times?”

At this point, the SNP Presiding Officer, Tricia Marwick, in an unprecedented move, stepped in to assist her Firstminster. She told her she didn’t have to answer.

Sturgeon, realising the further damage it would cause if she hid behind parliamentary protocol, insisted she had no problem in dealing with the Scottish Labour leader’s issue.

“As I said yesterday, the SNP did not have prior knowledge of any of these issues” she said.

It beggared belief and insulted the collective intelligence of the people of Scotland.

The Scottish Nationalist Party have one of the slickest, well oiled, media machines in the UK. Or, at least, they used to .

They have a backroom army of media monitors, schmoozers and PRs ready to report transgressions and potential damage to HQ at a moment’s notice.

The Scottish Sun, in July 2014 – a couple of months before the Neverendum vote – claimed they brought Michelle Thomson’s business dealings to the attention of the police:

“Scottish Sun flagged it up to police in July 2014″ Tweeted the Scottish Sun’s Home Affairs Editor, Chris Musson.

Is Nicola Sturgeon really expecting the people of Scotland to believe that nobody in the SNP, anywhere, was aware of this?

She’s either telling us that we’re all incredibly stupid or her party machine from the grass roots up is totally incompetent.

Neither conclusion is a good look for those claiming to be “Stronger for Scotland.”

For Sturgeon to persist in evading the ‘morality’ issue of Thomson’s predatory business deals – regardless of the legality – is a burning, shaming indictment of the state of Scotland’s official political government.

Now, it can’t be said that we’re not bothered about the insult to the collective intelligence of the people of Scotland. But Sturgeon’s credibility as a sincere politician is almost running on empty.

Her reputation was “dented” when it was revealed that she sought clemency for serial benefit fraudster Abdul Rauf who systematically stole £80,000 from honest taxpayers.

Her reputation took damage from her alleged ignorance of the wife beating past of Bill Walker when he was selected as the SNP MSP candidate for Dunfermline.

And she further compromised her reputation by defending Salmond’s blatant “lie” over European legal advice.

Her secret, undeclared, meeting with Rupert Murdoch in New York didn’t warm her to this correspondent either.

Now, she expects us to believe that she and her party knew nothing of Michelle Thomson’s business dealings. This, after the SNP vetting procedures for candidates was allegedly tightened up, following the Bill Walker scandal.

No, Scotland as a whole is shamed by this pitiful calibre of politician. If every SNP MP and MSP was to be replaced by random sheep and chimps, the nation would almost certainly be better served – though, admittedly, it would be difficult to tell the difference.

Nicola’s euphemistic ‘Trust me’ highlighted in the Youtube clip above might cut it for the hardcore Nationalists out there.

Anyone else really should reconsider just how much contempt sleekit Sturgeon is holding them in.

Sturgeon’s “commitment to social justice” is not “beyond any question”. It was questioned several times in yesterday’s FMQs.

And it was found wanting.