STEPHEN Flynn has been accused of running a “boys’ brigade” in Westminster – after reportedly drawing up an all-women "hit list" of SNP MSPs to oust before the Holyrood election.
Party insiders said they were unsurprised by reports the Westminster leader had identified a group of five women he wanted to eliminate from the Scottish Parliament to make room for ex-MPs.
Aberdeenshire North and Moray East MP Seamus Logan (below) is “matching” MPs who lost their seats with constituencies where the sitting MSP is deemed “unhelpful”, The Scottish Sun reports.
A spokesperson for Flynn dismissed the allegations, saying the report was “total nonsense and entirely untrue”.
But The National has spoken with SNP figures who said they felt MSPs were under “pressure” and believed the story was “legit”.
One SNP source said: “I don’t think it’s nonsense. I’m not surprised by the news story, by the list, by it being only women. That is the feeling that I have had throughout, with the whole Tuesday boys' club, the way that the party in Westminster is run.
“It feels like a boys’ club. I would have been surprised to see anyone on the list that was a man – unless it had been earlier and it was Humza [Yousaf].”
A source close to the First Minister dismissed the original story’s claim that John Swinney backed Flynn’s alleged plot.
They said: "John Swinney has nothing to do with this. It would be surprising if he did given the whole purpose of his leadership is to bring people together."
Another insider said referring to Flynn and Swinney: “Those bridges have been burned I believe.”
The source added: “They'll [Flynn and Swinney] be in touch with each other but the stunt he pulled over Audrey’s seat and certain interventions he’s made have really rubbed the FM and his people the wrong way.
“It’s certainly how his boys’ brigade would treat women MSPs, I can say that for sure.”
Another source said it was a “bad look” to draw up an all-woman shortlist.
Flynn was previously accused of pressing Aberdeen MSP Audrey Nicoll to give up her seat – something he denies – so he could stand for the constituency in next year’s Scottish Parliament election.
Nicoll announced on Sunday that she was quitting Holyrood at the next election but a source close to the MSP denied claims that Flynn was the reason she stepped down.
When previously asked to confirm reports that Flynn had urged her to stand down, Nicoll told The National: “I remember the conversation quite clearly, as he does, I’m sure.”
The alleged list – which features Karen Adam, Evelyn Tweed, Collette Stevenson, Jackie Dunbar and Emma Roddick – is not new, according to one SNP source.
They told The National rumours of its existence had been circulating for months and claimed the timing of the original story was intentional to get others to follow Nicoll’s lead and bow out.
Flynn could exert influence on SNP selections as a powerful figure in the party but would have no formal direct role in choosing the party’s candidates for the 2026 elections.
