Scottish National Party (SNP) old hand John Swinney is all but guaranteed to be Scotland’s next first minister, following the bruising demise of Humza Yousaf. His position was effectively confirmed after Kate Forbes, who has long been attacked for being overtly Christian, said she would not stand in the race.
Forbes lost out on the chance to become Scotland’s first minister last year after coming under heavy criticism for her personal opposition to same-sex marriage, gender self-identification, and sex before marriage—in short, for being a Christian.
Similar complaints were raised again this time around, including in a ridiculous article published by The Times which said that “whoever leads Scotland next, it can’t be Kate Forbes.” In this, Times columnist Kenny Farquharson said Forbes has been “a tremendous role model for young working-class women,” adding that she “has ideas and energy. She has a vision of how to tool Scotland for the challenges of the age: poverty; productivity; artificial intelligence; net zero.”
But, she also holds socially conservative, Christian views, and so “is unfit to be first minister of a 21st-century Scotland. A 1920s Scotland, maybe. A 1950s Scotland, perhaps. But not Scotland in 2024.”
Tim Dieppe, who is head of public policy at the Christian Concern campaign group, described this thinking as “incredibly anti-Christian,” adding that the “SNP deserves its demise for such attitudes.”
Dieppe does, however, agree with the view that “Forbes has still won a significant victory … for religion in public life” by sticking to her (Christian) guns and winning a place in Swinney’s incoming cabinet.
But it is still worth considering why, for example, the Muslim faith of other UK leaders is celebrated—including by Yousaf, who is himself a Muslim—while Forbes’ Christian beliefs result in her missing out on the top job. It’s also striking that much hostility to Forbes involved predicting—without evidence—that she would translate her faith into public policy.
Pro-UK Scottish writer Effie Deans said that Swinney is “competent” and will do a “better job” than Yousaf has—not that this will be difficult. She added:
There will be fewer gaffes and perhaps more sensible policies. But he is dull and unlikely to bring any new thinking to the SNP.
Kate Forbes is the SNP leader pro-UK people fear. Once more, the SNP has missed an opportunity.
Not that this is the first time the SNP has put identity politics above its supposed primary focus on independence. Indeed, unionists will rejoice at the news that Swinney is already under fire for refusing to say whether or not he believes that ‘trans women’ are women.
