SNP Tactical Voting: Northern Comfort
It is perhaps First Minister Alex Salmond's own fault that because he has delivered so many fiery, passionate, ovation-raising speeches in his two stints as SNP leader that when he comes to deliver speeches like today's at the SNP Autumn Conference, it's possible to feel that it was merely solid but not stupendous, comfortable but not captivating.
Today's speech was indeed comfortable, some may even say a little flat, but one could argue that in today's current climate there is much to be flat about.
With the sound of '£500m of Westminster cuts' continuously reverberating around the Eden Court Theatre's walls, the speech was always going to be light on policy and heavy on sentiment but it's clear what the clearest dividing line between the SNP and the other main parties will be going into the General Election and that is Trident.
Not only was it the only policy area mentioned twice in Salmond's speech but it was the issue where the delegates' and members' applause was at its most fervent.
In truth, there is something bittersweet about a party celebrating fifty years of opposition to nuclear weapons since that continued opposition inherently proves a certain ineffectiveness. However, given the dire economic climate, given the precarious constitutional arrangement and given the clear opposition to Trident north of the border from Scottish MPs, Scottish MSPs and the Scottish public alike, we can be confident that the "one hundred thousand million pounds" to be spent on new nuclear weapons by the incoming Westminster Government (whatever its hue) will be mentioned not just in Salmond's speech but utilised time and again to great effect in the SNP's election campaign.
I have mentioned the word 'comfortable' a few times already in this post and it's primarily because in the lunchtime fringe that I attended on The Modern SNP one of the guest speakers accused the SNP of adopting this position, an accusation meant as constructive criticism.
It is fair to say that the members and delegates feel comfortable, the First Minister's speech probably felt comfortable to many and the Conference itself will continue to have a general air of comfort around it. Gone, after all, are the days of the SNP looking into Government from the outside and the nervous, agitated energy that comes with that.
However, when a party is sitting comfortably ahead in the polls and can comfortably defend attacks from opposing parties, one has to conclude that being comfortable isn't really the worst position in the world to be in. Comfort is only a hop, skip and a jump away from confidence and confidence breeds success.
Here in Inverness, a bit of Northern Comfort steadying the SNP's nerves before the rocky General Election campaign ahead and embarking on the ambitious aim of 20 Nationalist MPs may be no bad thing.
Written by the editor of http://www.snptacticalvoting.com/
Today's speech was indeed comfortable, some may even say a little flat, but one could argue that in today's current climate there is much to be flat about.
With the sound of '£500m of Westminster cuts' continuously reverberating around the Eden Court Theatre's walls, the speech was always going to be light on policy and heavy on sentiment but it's clear what the clearest dividing line between the SNP and the other main parties will be going into the General Election and that is Trident.
Not only was it the only policy area mentioned twice in Salmond's speech but it was the issue where the delegates' and members' applause was at its most fervent.
In truth, there is something bittersweet about a party celebrating fifty years of opposition to nuclear weapons since that continued opposition inherently proves a certain ineffectiveness. However, given the dire economic climate, given the precarious constitutional arrangement and given the clear opposition to Trident north of the border from Scottish MPs, Scottish MSPs and the Scottish public alike, we can be confident that the "one hundred thousand million pounds" to be spent on new nuclear weapons by the incoming Westminster Government (whatever its hue) will be mentioned not just in Salmond's speech but utilised time and again to great effect in the SNP's election campaign.
I have mentioned the word 'comfortable' a few times already in this post and it's primarily because in the lunchtime fringe that I attended on The Modern SNP one of the guest speakers accused the SNP of adopting this position, an accusation meant as constructive criticism.
It is fair to say that the members and delegates feel comfortable, the First Minister's speech probably felt comfortable to many and the Conference itself will continue to have a general air of comfort around it. Gone, after all, are the days of the SNP looking into Government from the outside and the nervous, agitated energy that comes with that.
However, when a party is sitting comfortably ahead in the polls and can comfortably defend attacks from opposing parties, one has to conclude that being comfortable isn't really the worst position in the world to be in. Comfort is only a hop, skip and a jump away from confidence and confidence breeds success.
Here in Inverness, a bit of Northern Comfort steadying the SNP's nerves before the rocky General Election campaign ahead and embarking on the ambitious aim of 20 Nationalist MPs may be no bad thing.
Written by the editor of http://www.snptacticalvoting.com/
posted by Jeff at
17:14
1 Comments:
I can imagine the headlines, 6 weeks away from the publication of the whitepaper with a by-election inbetween, Labour and there BBC / Scotsman lackie salivating at the propsect of accusing Salmond of putting his own ego ahead of ordinary folk.
In the end, the speech was good summary of progress thus far and hinted at a few developing concepts for the argument ahead.
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