Cherry hopes new leadership means intolerance within SNP is in the past

The outspoken SNP MP said party colleagues had previously ‘harangued’ her over her gender-critical views.

SNP MP Joanna Cherry discussed the atmosphere with the party with journalist Graham Spiers during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)

Intolerance towards opposing views within the SNP “is a thing of the past” under the party’s new leadership, Joanna Cherry has told an audience, in a criticism of her former bosses.

The outspoken SNP MP’s views on gender reform legislation clashed with those of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and the party’s ex-Westminster leader, Ian Blackford.

The Edinburgh South West MP has previously said she was sacked from the party’s front bench at Westminster for her opposition to reform of the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill which makes it easier for transgender people to change their legal gender.

Ms Cherry has said the plans put women and lesbians in danger by making it easier for men to enter single-sex spaces.

Speaking In Conversation with journalist Graham Spiers at the New Town Theatre as part of Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe on Thursday, she said colleagues had “harangued” her in an effort to prevent her taking part in a cross-party panel at an LGB Alliance conference several years ago.

She told the audience: “They demanded I had the whip removed if I spoke at the conference and really whipped up an atmosphere, very unpleasant, and, to use someone else’s words, toxic atmosphere against me within the Westminster group.”

She added: “I have been very upset. I’ve sat in my office in Westminster on many occasions and cried because of the really awful atmosphere that I had to work in.

“I have no doubt that the hatred that is directed towards me as a lesbian and as a feminist is homophobic and lesbophobic.”

But Ms Cherry praised both First Minister Humza Yousaf and the party’s Westminster boss, Stephen Flynn, whom she described as a potential future party leader, as she said the pair are “tolerant” of opposing views and committed to addressing division within the group.

She said: “The reason I say it is a thing of the past is because, certainly under Stephen Flynn’s leadership at Westminster, the atmosphere has palpably changed in the group.

“The leaderships under which that happened, those leaders have moved on, and certainly Stephen Flynn has been immensely supportive of me and we’ve had civilised discussions about my positions on this issue.

“I’m in touch with Humza, I’ve always got on with Humza, and I think he wants to… my impression is, he wants to engage with you on the feeling of what’s going on in the party.”

A member of the audience asked Ms Cherry why she has not turned her back on the SNP following her claims, with the MP responding: “The Westminster group was a very difficult environment for me to work in for a number of years and one day I’ll tell the full story of what happened behind the scenes.

“But, certainly, since Stephen Flynn has become leader of the Westminster group that has changed because Stephen is his own man. I think he’s one to watch out for as a potential future SNP leader.”

She said she hopes the “intolerance” within the party was a “blip” in history that is now over with the new leadership.

There was heightened security at the theatre for the one-hour talk, organised by The Stand, including bag searches and metal detectors for audience members, and no alcohol was served at the event.

Ms Cherry’s appearance was initially cancelled because some members of staff at the venue felt uncomfortable with her gender critical views.

Just two protesters appeared outside the venue before the appearance, with Ms Cherry telling journalists after the event that she had expected a bigger demonstration and “was a bit worried for her safety”.

Meanwhile, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon also discussed the reaction to gender reform legislation, telling Iain Dale’s All Talk fringe audience: “I don’t have any regrets about the way I handled it,” adding that she “would vote for it again tomorrow”.

But she admitted her regret was her inability to bring people with opposing views “to the centre ground”.

She said: “Actually the different views that have become so polarised I don’t believe are irreconcilable.

“I’m a feminist, I have been a feminist all my life, I will be a feminist till the day I die. Women’s rights matter to me more than most other things.

“But I also think that what is probably the most stigmatised, vulnerable, discriminated against group in society deserves a better crack of the whip in terms of just being themselves. I don’t think these things are irreconcilable.

“If I have got a regret it is that I didn’t manage to reconcile them a bit more.”