He chose not to stand and instead supported Swinney – and was rewarded with the post of Deputy First Minister, bringing together talented people from two different political parties in the party and launching an expensive, and potentially Survived the leadership contest, apparently acrimonious. The party chief was pleased.
A senior SNP official said, “Having Swinney and Forbes together is the last thing the Tories or Labor wanted.”
Others in the party welcomed the fact that Forbes’s allies – who were often critical of Joseph – are now in the same tent with Swinney’s leadership, and hoped it would unify a party where Sturgeon would go. The differing opinions have since become more pronounced. The Scottish Greens, on whom Swinney may need to rely for some parliamentary votes, were much less happy However, regarding her appointment, while the official LGBT wing of the SNP said There are concerns about Forbes’ socially conservative views.
But apart from bringing in Forbes and eliminating the largely symbolic role of “Minister for Independence”, Swinney made no other changes to the governing cabinet he inherited from Joseph.
This has allowed opposition parties to portray the new leader as the same, as the SNP struggles to regain its high public approval at the peak of Sturgeon’s leadership.
“After being at the center of every SNP failure for the last 17 years, why does John Swinney think Scotland should be more accepting of it?” asked Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar, who hopes to become first minister after the 2026 Holyrood election, as he faced Swinney in the Scottish Parliament chambers for the first time on Thursday.