Can Sturgeon or the SNP survive Murrellgate?

Douglas Murray recently asked a very interesting question - What would you say if your spouse bought a luxury campervan? Now for those of you living outside the UK let me explain because this is a glorious story of embezzlement, deceit and ultimately, political downfall. Admittedly, it’s not quite in the league of William M. Tweed or Randall Cunningham in the United States but it definitely ranks amongst one of the best stories of illegality for the last few years. In sleepy and dare I suggest, somewhat nondescript Scottish politics, Nicola Sturgeon served as, until a couple of years ago, First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, while her husband, Peter Murrell was employed as the Chief Executive of the party. Now, Mr Murrell has been charged with and is pleading guilty to embezzlement to the tune of £400,000 (about $540,000) part of which included purchase of a £110,000 campervan.

In her defence, Ms Sturgeon argued she had no knowledge of her husband's criminal behaviour, arguing her salary at that time was £145,000, while her husband's salary ranged between £80 - 100,000. She argued: "None of these things [the purchases] I would have looked at and thought how on earth could he afford them? We were two people on high salaries. We don't have children. We didn't have an extensive social life, mainly because of the pressures of my job."

Now, before we continue, let's not forget, Murrell's purchases included:

·       £9,350.25 on two Bremont watches;

·       £24,324.60 on Montblanc goods;

·       £24,495.50 on items from Smythson;

·       £6,085.86 on Dyson products;

·       £8,991.65 on coffee machines;

·       £1,782.99 on cup warmers;

·       £5,319.28 on Le Creuset products;

·       £1,990.50 on umbrellas;

·       £2,618.16 on two salt and pepper grinders from Lalique;

·       £1,056 on reed diffusers and candles from Jo Malone;

·       £3,500 on a hand chased silver wine coaster from Hamilton & Inches               jewellers.

... that's quite a bit of kit to bring into the marital home without it being noticed. I mean, take my own home, albeit our salaries are less - I can't bring in a custard slice into my home without it being noticed though, in fairness my wife never complains about my occasional ‘sweet treat’ relapses.

But one thing's for sure - if I pulled up outside my home in a huge and brand new luxury campervan, I think she'd notice and when there was no change to our bank account, she would ask how I paid for it. Indeed, and having once owned a motorhome, I think there’s an above average chance she would have hit the roof on spending so much money without us having some kind of conversation about the matter.

So, am I accusing Ms Sturgeon of lying? No, but it does make me wonder about their relationship. Of course, it could be they each held separate bank accounts and kept their financial affairs separate and private. Hardly unknown, though somewhat unusual and of course, in this case it quite easy to accept she might ignore the Montblanc pens and stationery, the jewellery and the watches. However, the new Jaguar iPace worth £80,000 parked in your driveway, and the £125,000 Niesmann and Bischoff motorhome parked outside the home of her (then) 67 year old mother, Joan Sturgeon who, until 2017 also served  SNP councillor and provost (civic head of council) of North Ayrshire? Well that bit is a little harder to understand.

Personal political ramifications

Quite clearly the consequences of the Murrell case will impact heavily on Ms Sturgeon and bring into question her ability to exercise due diligence in her affairs. The annual spending budget of the Scottish parliament averages about £68bn and, of course is heavily monitored and audited, but if (and it remains unknown) Ms Sturgeon was part of a conspiracy to embezzle party funds, could she also have been party to stealing taxpayers money, It seems unlikely, but cannot be dismissed without investigation. In the coming months we can reasonably assume this will be investigated and if, as we would hope, she is innocent then the worst she could be accused of is naivete and gullibility – not qualities you would hope to see in senior politicians. On the other hand, if she is in any way guilty, the political and legal ramifications for her are immense.

Party political ramifications

If the Murrell case has shown us anything it is that the SNP financial system was wide open to abuse. At this time, the SNP is holding a deficit of about half a million and a rapidly declining membership. On the other hand it still hold ownership of the campervan, now only worth £41,000 and a £60,000 loan to Peter Murrell they are unlikely to ever see again. In short, the party is in something of a financial mess with no concrete plan to sort the problem out.

What is clear is that while the SNP secured sizable support in the last Scottish elections (57 seats) it seems unlikely to dam the holes and the only thing holding them up at the moment is the fact there is no viable alternate Scottish Independence party – if that changes before the next general election their future could be bleak.

When Alex Salmond was politically active and set up the Alba Party this may have happened soon er rather than later, but with his untimely death and the demise of his party it seems that for now they are safe. As for the Independence for Scotland Party, they continue to be a minor thorn in the SNP side though their leader Colette Walker remains an unknown and with less than 1% of the vote they pose no real threat.

However, if the likes of ex-SNP members such as Mhairi Black, Ash Regan or Neale Hanvey were to establish a new Scottish Independence Party the threat could be formidable

The unpleasant case of Green antisemitism

 The leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, who is Jewish, took to social media after an article from the Daily Mail quoted one of his family members saying he is "the leader of the future Islamic party of Britain".

The article featured three extended family members who Polanski with whom he has no contact.

Responding, Polanski pointed out that he is currently the only Jewish person in charge of a political party, adding: "The Daily Mail have been and always will be my enemy – they historically supported fascists and continue to do so.

"I'll take no lectures from them on antisemitism."

A Green Party spokesman also hit out at the article, saying: "Zack is one of five Jewish leaders of a political party in British history and the harassment he has received since being elected is patently antisemitic.

"Reporting like this demeans the press and our democracy." 

Responding to backlash, Nicole Lampert - the journalist who wrote the piece and who is Jewish herself - denied that she was "going after" Polanski's family and said those she had spoken to were "frightened by the Jew hate in your party"

She continued: "They are frightened by what you have given the green light to ... While you once fought Jew hatred, now you indulge it because, as we both see, it is popular."

"Other political groups have discovered this in the past," she added.

Polanski responded accusing the journalist of "parasitic behaviour" and dismissing the story as "daily nonsense".

I find a strange irony here - a political leader whose party has patently expressed anti-Israel and, by default anti-Zionist comments now finds it necessary to defend itself from what it calls antisemitic attacks. Personally, I call that "Jewish when needed".

Sorry Zack, it won't work!

You and your ridiculous little party have brought this on yourselves and I have no sympathy. Historically the Greens have always done badly in General Elections and I see no evidence this will change. Remember, back in 1981 the Lib Dems were told by their then leader, David Steele " ... Prepare for government". Well, back in 2024 they only managed 72 MPs, a long way from government.

Be warned, the Greens are a vicious, nasty antisemitic party but, like a tiny stone in your shoe they will be thrown out and consigned to the dustbin

An Iranian spy-ring on the heart of London?

According to reports, an Iranian spy recruitment ring is operating openly in London and the Islamic Republic is exploiting Britain’s “permissive environment” as a base for its Western intelligence-gathering and propaganda campaigns, according to the newspaper.

It seems the UK's permissive environment is common knowledge at this point, with charitable organisations linked to the antisemitic regime operating freely here, repeated glorification of the terrorist IRGC and regime leadership on our streets, propagandistic events on campuses and vigils for assassinated terrorist figures that run absolutely counter to our values. Iranian state television still operates in the UK, and the regime itself continues to enjoy a diplomatic foothold.

British authorities have been warned that an Iranian spy recruitment network is operating openly in London, with the country’s state broadcaster, Press TV, reportedly serving as a front to identify and cultivate intelligence assets, according to reporting by The Telegraph. The network is said to exploit Britain’s permissive environment to gather information on Western targets and propagate Tehran’s interests.

Press TV, the English-language channel of Iran’s state broadcaster, maintains a studio in London and is alleged to have produced programming that effectively created a “target list for terrorists” by highlighting Jewish charities, schools, and community organisations, officials told The Telegraph. Concerns have risen following a recent anti-Semitic arson attack in north London, where two men were arrested after ambulances owned by a Jewish charity were set alight outside a synagogue. Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation, amid fears the incident could be linked to Iran.

Earlier this month, two Iranian nationals were charged with spying for Tehran after allegedly conducting surveillance of the Israeli embassy in London and Britain’s oldest synagogue, the Westminster magistrates’ court was told. Experts have long cautioned that Iranian intelligence services routinely target Jewish communities, Israelis, and Iranian dissidents, often using criminal intermediaries.

Police stand outside the scene of an antisemitic arson attack in the Golders Green Bneighbourhood of north London, on March 24, 2026. (AFP)

“From an Iranian perspective, London is a permissive environment,” Jonathan Hackett, a former American intelligence officer with two decades of experience in Marine Corps intelligence, told The Telegraph. He said some Press TV journalists were tasked with spotting and assessing potential recruits, using their professional credentials to gain access to both private and governmental circles. Hackett explained that the journalists would develop assets before transferring them to more experienced Tehran-based handlers.

Hackett noted that Press TV’s London office has assumed a “more significant” role in recruitment efforts as the broadcaster has been sanctioned in other Western countries. In recent years, Press TV has faced restrictions in the European Union, Australia, Canada, and the United States, with the latter citing the airing of forced confessions and the channel’s use by Iranian intelligence to recruit sensitive assets, including U.S. nationals, according to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The recruitment of Monica Witt, a former U.S. Air Force counter-intelligence specialist with access to top-secret defense files, was highlighted as a high-profile example. Witt was allegedly groomed by Press TV presenter Marzieh Hashemi, initially “spotting, assessing and handling” her before transferring the case to a Tehran-based officer, Hackett said. Witt defected to Iran in 2013, a development described by Hackett as a major intelligence victory for Tehran.

Press TV has also faced scrutiny for broadcasting content considered anti-Semitic. The Community Security Trust (CST), a U.K.-based Jewish charity, has criticized the channel’s programme Palestine Declassified for depicting numerous Jewish organisations and individuals as “genocidal Zionist extremists.” The CST spokesman said the programming raises safety concerns for the targeted individuals and organisations, requiring extensive monitoring and security measures. Episodes reportedly named 14 Jewish charities and criticized Jewish schools and leaders for alleged pro-Zionist activities.

Two prominent U.K. presenters of the programme include Chris Williamson, a former Labour MP now deputy leader of the Workers Party, and academic David Miller, who was dismissed from Bristol University over anti-Zionist claims but later won a workplace discrimination case. Both are noted for presenting Palestine Declassified and contributing to Press TV’s English-language output.

In response to the growing concerns, a group of Members of Parliament urged the U.K. security minister to impose financial sanctions on Press TV. David Taylor, Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, called the broadcaster the “international mouthpiece for Iran’s murderous regime,” highlighting its alleged role in targeting Jewish communities and propagating anti-Western narratives. Discussions at Downing Street and among officials at the Foreign Office, Home Office, and Treasury have reportedly considered measures to further restrict the channel’s operations in the U.K.

Press TV’s broadcast licence in Britain was revoked by Ofcom in 2012, and it has been banned from YouTube, yet it continues to operate via social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and X, with over one million followers. Roger Macmillan, a former director of security at independent Farsi-language broadcaster Iran International, described Press TV as operating in a “grey zone,” noting that while it may not violate broadcasting regulations, it continues to disseminate pro-regime content and anti-Semitic material.

                                                 Marzieh Hashemi, a Press TV presenter, is accused of recruiting spies for Iran 

A U.K. government spokesperson said, “We are clear-eyed about the threats posed by Iran, and our first priority is protecting British interests and British lives both in the U.K. and overseas. We have introduced a comprehensive set of additional measures aimed at countering threats posed by the Iranian regime.”

The network’s activities in London, including the alleged use of Press TV to recruit intelligence assets, remain under scrutiny amid broader security and counter-terrorism efforts.

At a time when Jewish institutions, synagogues, schools and individuals are being targeted by Iranian assets and extremist cells, we are in desperate need of a crackdown, however Starmer and his pseudo-liberal buddies seem reluctant to tackle issues that not only affect the Jewish community, but the UK as a whole,

The possibility of an Iranian spy ring will be no great surprise to most of us, but the fact it is to Starmer is a matter of deep concern.

Latest Far-Right News Round-Up - February 6th, 2024

It's been a fairly quiet time for the far-right in the UK, but history has always shown that whenever a snake is quiet it is usually because they are planning something - a point activists and researchers may wish to consider as we slide into election year.

Once again, Patriotic Alternative’s Sam Melia is in trouble. Melia, an ex-National Action member was found guilty of running an online archive of downloadable stickers he created that the prosecution argue were designed to stir up racial hatred. Naturally, Melia is screaming he is innocent and arguing that all he was trying to do was "start a conversation".

What should be made clear her is that Melia has confirmed he was the head of the Hundred Handers, an anonymous group of activists responsible for a spate of anti-immigration “stickering” incidents between 2019 and 2021. During its heyday the group organised into two sub-groups  –  the Heads and the Hands. The Heads design stickers and posters, using specific printers to ensure their material does not run in the rain. The Handers then receive the material at the beginning of every month to disperse over their designated area.

Sam Melia

As part of their campaign to supposedly “start a conversation”, in January 2020, fake Extinction Rebellion posters were reported in Brighton. These included: 'Stop white genocide', 'House the world, destroy the environment' and 'population control in the third world'. Then in March 2020, further such stickers appeared in Bedford and in September 2020, stickers with racist slogans and linked to the Hundred Handers appeared in the Crookes area of Sheffield. Stickers were also reported in Scotland.

 

In June 2020, it was reported the group had put up messages in Canada, such as: "Never apologise for being white," and "There is a war on whites" and "It's okay to be white.”Further incidents were recorded when in 2021, Hampshire Police increased patrols and examined CCTV footage in response to the Hundred-Handers posting anti-immigrant, pro-white stickers in the town of Romsey, including some that read "White Privilege Excellence."

He will be sentenced on March 1^st.

 

On the subject of Patriotic Alternative, it is worth mentioning that well-known Pro-Palestinian blogger, Muhammad Dilmar ‘Dilly’ Hussain, who is no stranger to distorting the truth for political gain was happy to invite PA’s ‘fuhrer’, Mark Collett to his home to be interviewed for his Islamist blog, ‘5 Pillars’.

 

Mark Collett

 

Hussain is no stranger to controversy and has accused Tell MAMA (an independent, non-governmental organisation that works on tackling anti-Muslim hatred) in a Tweet on X that they are, in his words, “run by Zionists who support murder of children” and that it supposedly has “militant Zionist patrons and trustees”. Separately, Hussain has written a longer Facebook post in which he attacked Tell MAMA because he believes “their board of trustees and patrons are infested with hardcore Zionists.”

 

Britain First may face a little unpleasant publicity in Northern Ireland when former Belfast councillor Jolene Bunting goes to the High Court in a bid to overturn her three-year ban on seeking re-election.

Apparently, an appeal against her disqualification is being mounted amid confirmation that she will not be prosecuted over any allegations of fraud by misrepresentation. From what we are able to gather, her challenge to the sanction imposed by the Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards (NILGCS) will not be heard until later this year. Ms Bunting, a former independent unionist councillor, was disqualified in February 2023 for breaching the code of conduct when the watchdog found she had brought her position into disrepute by doctoring a payslip in a bid to obtain cash from far-right party Britain First following a complaint lodged by the group’s leader, Paul Golding.

 

While on the subject of Britain First, it appears they told their supporters that “jihadists” burnt the officers of Conservative MP, Mike Freer in north London, even though the police already ruled out any hate crime motive. Two non-Muslim homeless people were charged with arson last month over the attack on Freer’s office in Finchley, but that failed to stop Britain First inciting its supporters against Muslims by trying to pin the blame on “radical Islamists.”

 

In a newsletter distributed on the 3^rd February, with the title “Radical Islam on the Rise,” Britain First told their supporters: “It has emerged that a sitting Member of Parliament has been forced to step away from politics due to attacks and threats from Islamist extremists. Mike Freer, representing a seat in London, had his office burnt out by jihadists. Mr Freer said he – and his staff – would wear a stab vest, and carry a panic alarm, when meeting the public on the advice of police. Mr Freer has received endless death threats, going back as far as 2011, from groups including ‘Muslims Against Crusades’, which was later classified as a terrorist organisation by the government and banned.”

 

It seems voters at the next general election will have the dubious delight of being able to vote for candidates representing the Homeland Party. The white nationalist group applied to the Electoral Commission (EC) last May to become a political party. Its application has now been granted and the group is officially registered, allowing it to field candidates at elections across Britain.

 

Announcing its registration with the EC, Homeland Party claimed it is “returning politics to the bedrock foundations of nation and community” and would be calling for a “binding referendum on immigration”.

 

Anti-fascist critics raised serious concerns, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), who said it is “extremely concerning when a far-right group successfully obtains political party status”. The Scottish Greens said Homeland’s “worldview has no place in a modern or progressive Scotland” and that voters would reject it. We can but hope.

 

Steven Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) remains in the news. It seems the former leader of the English Defence League and ‘friend’ of Paul Golding is touring the north-west of England whipping up hate by weaponising child sexual exploitation. As part of this ‘tour’ he descended on Telford in the West Midlands on 27^th January and announced he will go on to Oldham in Greater Manchester on 23^rd March. The ‘tour’ will concern democrats from all political persuasions amid a by-election announced for 29^th February in nearby Rochdale, another town in the north-west scarred by a child sexual exploitation scandal. It seems almost certain Lennon will use the tragic experience of child sexual exploitation in the city to scapegoat migrants and refugees. It seems almost certain he may receive further support from candidates like Simon Danczuk, the ex-Labour MP, who is now standing for the Reform Party and Billy Howarth, founder of Parents Against Grooming UK.

 

Finally, many readers will be aware that several ex-members of National Action have now either been released or will be due for discharge in the coming months. Among those now able to roam the streets include Matthew Hankinson, who was 24 when jailed for membership of the banned terror group, National Action (NA) in 2018. He was one of eleven people arrested in late 2017 as part Operation Harplike, an investigation launched by counter-terror police. Hankinson has been released having served a full sentence during which time he made and received no telephone calls; nor did he receive visitors or write or accept any mail during his time. During his time languishing under His Majesty’s pleasure, Hankinson resolutely refused to cooperate with rehabilitation initiatives and as such, having served a full sentence, he is free to live wherever he chooses without having to report to the Probation and Aftercare Service – this is despite the fact that many would still describe him as a high-risk offender.

 

Other notable NA members to have been released include, Alice Cutter, the highly reported runner up in the group’s disturbing ‘Miss Hitler’ competition and Mark Jones, her previous boyfriend, though a condition of their release was that they were not allowed to contact each other. Like Hankinson, Jones was released despite refusing to undertake extra work to back up a number of jail programmes he completed to address his extremist views.

 

However, unlike these little cherubs, Darren Fletcher, (aka Darren Clifft and Christopher Phillips) who was jailed for three years and four months, with an extra 18 months added on for breaching an outstanding order against him was released into the community on strict license conditions (similar to those applied to former members or adherents of Islamic State), Fletcher worked as an HGV driver and continued to brag he was still spreading hatred and that nothing could stop him. He proved as much by attending a hardline anti-immigrant rally in Walsall several months ago where he was letting everyone know that he was back up to his old tricks.

 

Darren Fletcher

 

Thankfully, his antics were being monitored and he was returned to court for breaching a criminal anti-social order and as a consequence is now serving a further four years in prison.

 

Well that about completes this news round-up. If you want to keep up to date, please subscribe, and above all – stay safe