Joanna Cherry has called for John Swinney to resign as First Minister and leader of the SNP, insisting the party needs a leader who will “break with the past” after former chief executive Peter Murrell pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 of party funds.
Cherry, who lost her Westminster seat in 2024 and left the SNP in late 2025, said Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn should replace Swinney. “John Swinney has proven himself incapable of doing that,” she said, “and so I’d like to see a new leader.” She also dismissed Education Secretary Mairi McAllan as “just a Nicola Sturgeon place person” and not up to the job.
Murrell, 61, admitted at the High Court in Edinburgh to embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP between 2010 and 2022. He used the money to buy a motorhome, a Jaguar SUV, a VW Golf, luxury goods and electronics. He was first arrested in April 2023 as part of Operation Branchform, the police investigation into SNP finances that began in July 2021. He was charged in April 2024 and has now been remanded in custody, with sentencing set for June 23.
Swinney has apologised to party members, describing the day as “tough” and saying he was “gutted” and “horrified”. He insisted Murrell was “exclusively responsible” and that he “never suspected” the crimes. Swinney added that he felt “absolutely the same agony” as donors because he too had contributed money. Nicola Sturgeon, Murrell’s estranged wife, said she had “no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever” of the embezzlement and was “utterly appalled”, describing herself as “deceived and let down by a husband I loved and trusted”. Police Scotland concluded their investigations into Sturgeon and party treasurer Colin Beattie in March 2025 with no charges filed.
Cherry’s long-running concerns and the backlash she faced
Cherry’s demand for Swinney’s resignation is the culmination of years of tension over the party’s finances — tension that she says was met with hostility from the leadership.
Speaking to reporters, she said she and others who raised questions about SNP spending were criticised by then-leader Nicola Sturgeon “and her lackeys” and described as “traitors”. Cherry recalled that during lockdown meetings of the SNP’s national executive committee (NEC), those who voiced concerns were shut down. “We were told that we were deliberately trying to undermine the party and undermine Nicola’s leadership,” she said, “and then quite frequently thereafter we would find the social media dogs set upon us.”
The former MP said she was “very angry and upset” about what has happened. “I was deeply suspicious about what her husband was up to, but I never imagined it would amount to such serious and grave crimes as this. I tried to ask questions about it. I was treated appallingly, and I saw other women and men also treated appallingly. So, I’m quite emotional about it.”
In April 2023, a leaked video from an NEC meeting in March 2021 showed Sturgeon playing down worries about the party’s finances. In the clip, she urged those on the call to be “very careful” but insisted the finances had never been stronger. That meeting took place days before the first complaint about SNP finances was made to Police Scotland. By July 2021 the force had formally launched Operation Branchform, which examined allegations that more than £600,000 in donations earmarked for a second independence referendum campaign had been improperly spent.
Cherry said the party leadership shut down internal challenges at every turn. She has now called for an independent inquiry into the SNP’s finances and said those who questioned the finances — including herself — are owed an apology. She urged Swinney to “recognise the true victims”, describing them as “many of the ordinary decent working-class people who donated small amounts of money to the party because they believed it would be spent on independence”.
Cherry’s public break with the party came after years of criticism. She lost her seat in 2024 and left the SNP in late 2025, having previously accused Nicola Sturgeon of ensuring her downfall as an MP and hit out at John Swinney for being in denial about the party’s problems.
Flynn, whom Cherry has nominated as Swinney’s replacement, served as leader of the SNP in the House of Commons from December 2022 until May 2026. He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in May 2026 and appointed Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Transport and Tourism. McAllan, by contrast, held various cabinet posts since 2021, including housing and net zero, and served as a special adviser to Sturgeon before entering parliament. She became Education Secretary in May 2026.
