George Galloway has launched a scathing attack on Ian Blackford after the SNP Westminster leader announced he would be stepping down from the role.
Ian Blackford said in a statement on Thursday that he will not seek re-election at the party’s AGM next week, claiming it is time for “fresh leadership”.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.
House of Commons
The SNP is gearing up to fight the next general election as a de facto referendum following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Holyrood cannot legislate for another vote on independence without Westminster’s consent.
Mr Blackford said: “I have today informed SNP MPs that I will not be re-standing as leader of the Westminster parliamentary group at our AGM next week.
“After more than five years in the role, now is the right time for fresh leadership at Westminster as we head towards a general election and the next steps in winning Scotland’s independence.”
Joining Esther McVey and Philip Davies on GB News, George Galloway said Ian Blackford was a “cringing embarrassment” to Scotland.
He said: “For some, it will be an occasion of sadness. But there's great rejoicing in Scotland.
“He was a cringing embarrassment to the country. His bloviating, blowhard, bullying manner, whilst claiming to speak for the people of Scotland, was very greatly deprecated here and quite rightly, it's not the kind of people we are.
“The SNP is beginning to come apart at the seams. I think it's fantasy at the end of an era, the Sturgeon era, as the Salmond era before it coming to a close.
George Galloway joined Esther McVey and Philip Davies on GB News
GB News
Asked if Blackford's resignation makes Nicola Sturgeon's position more precarious as lead of the SMP in Scotland, he said: “I think she's just waiting for the right international job offer to come along and she'll be gone.
“That's the meaning of all these meaningless, otherwise trips abroad, selfies with foreign leaders and pretensions on the international stage for a variety of reasons, some of them personal, I think she feels it's time to go.
“The bitter blow of the Supreme Court refusing the permission to have a kind of self-announced referendum marks the end of an era.
“t’s a punctuation mark, of course. The Scottish separatist cause will not go away.
“It might even benefit from a change of leader. There are many, many people in the SNP, after all, who think that Nicola Sturgeon has taken their party as far as it can go.”