AN SNP MP who lost his seat at the General Election has said John Swinney must be a "ruthless bastard" and scrap the party's commitment to removing nuclear weapons from Scotland within two years of the nation becoming independent.
Stewart McDonald, who was ousted as the MP for Glasgow South in last week’s General Election, said while he trusted Swinney to “try to turn things round”, the SNP leader would need to be a “ruthless bastard” to succeed in this.
After the SNP returned nine MPs, down from 48 in 2019, many within the party have called for a change in direction ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections.
McDonald added that voters had effectively put a “hard pause” on the party’s independence agenda.
The former MP declared: “The hard pause is here, and we need to think about what we do with that time.”
McDonald, who served as SNP’s Westminster defence spokesperson during his nine years in the Commons, refused to rule himself out of running for Holyrood in the next Scottish elections in May 2026.
But speaking on The Ponsonby and Massie Podcast, hosted by journalists Bernard Ponsonby and Alex Massie, he said while he was “not ruling it out”, he was “not actively thinking about it either”.
Asked directly however if the SNP getting “horsed” was now the most likely outcome of that election, McDonald said: “Yes.”
His comments came as he spoke out about what he described as a “cultural problem” in his party.
“I think we have a cultural problem within the SNP and that cultural problem is about seriousness," he said.
He cited examples of this as being the de facto referendum policy, introduced by former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon which set out how the SNP would fight the election as a “de facto” referendum on independence, in the wake of the refusal of successive prime ministers to permit a second vote on Scotland’s place in the UK.
McDonald also criticised the SNP’s insistence on having a policy of removing Trident nuclear weapons from an independent Scotland within two years, when he as the then defence spokesperson “didn’t think it was possible”.
He said: “This is what needs to go, this is what needs to be a part of our history.
“And if we are to be successful, if we are to not get horsed in 2026 and enjoy a long spell in opposition, this kind of culture cannot last.”
Speaking about the “wholesale change and upgrade and personality change that the party needs”, McDonald added: “I want to see us grow up, I want to see us get serious. I want to see us have a debate where there are no sacred cows, nothing is off the table.
“There’s a big psychological, political and cultural reset needed within the party.”
He noted that the SNP conference next month has a debate scheduled on what the national anthem for an independent Scotland should be – something he insisted he could not “give a monkey’s” about.
“I do trust John Swinney to try to turn things round," he said.
"I think he could do it. I think he wants to do it.
“But it will require him, if I can use some fruity language, to be a ruthless bastard.”
He added: “I told him if you get the calls right, and you have the right kind of agenda, and you need to be a bit of a bastard, people like me will have your back.”
