Uniquely in world history, the SNP have a majority fringe

Three names mentioned by Good Morning Scotland this morning who support of Fergus Ewing.

1. Joanna Cherry
2. Alex Neil
3. Kate Forbes

All three are members of the fringe ‘malcontents’ group we identified months ago. Others included Ash Regan, Michelle Thomson and Angus MacNeil.

— MSM Monitor (@msm_monitor) September 28, 2023

So, rather helpfully, we have six exact names of people belonging to this fringe malcontent group. Of course one thing that all fringe malcontent groups, all over the world, have in common is that they have very little support, but it’s usually not possible to measure in precise detail just how pitifully small their support is. In this particular case, though, we have a rare opportunity to do just that, because remarkably, no fewer than two of the six leading members of the fringe malcontent group actually stood for the SNP leadership only six months ago, so let’s refresh our memories of just how dismally they performed.

Kate Forbes took just 40.7% of the first preference vote.

Ash Regan took just 11.1% of the first preference vote.

In combination, that suggests the fringe malcontent group commands the support of a mere 51.8% of the SNP membership.

Oh wait, that’s an outright majority, isn’t it. I’m sometimes accused of being overly-pedantic, but I’m not aware of any version of the English language in which the majority of an organisation can be described as its “fringe”. Maybe it’s the Humza cheerleaders who are the real fringe malcontents, who knows.

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