THE SNP hierarchy has indefinitely postponed a decision on whether to reinstate Michelle Thomson, despite the party’s Westminster group openly backing the idea
The National Executive Committee (NEC) briefly discussed the Edinburgh West MP's wish to have the whip restored yesterday, an idea endorsed by the SNP's 54 MPs.
A spokesman said the matter had been “continued for further consideration”.
However no date was set, and nor was there a commitment to air it at next month’s NEC.
Thomson, 51, a former Business for Scotland campaigner with a £1.5m property empire, was elected in the SNP tsunami of May 2015.
She resigned the whip four months later after it emerged her former solicitor, Christopher Hales, had been struck off for professional misconduct for his part in 13 of her property deals.
The Scottish Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said Hales “must have been aware that there was a possibility that he was facilitating mortgage fraud, whether or not this actually occurred”.
It also said it “must have been glaringly obvious that something was amiss” with some of the transactions involving Thomson or her business M&F Property Solutions.
The police have been investigating the matter for a year although no one has been charged.
In recent months, Thomson, who now sits as an Independent, has persuaded her former Westminster colleagues to support her return to the party fold.
In July, she emailed them about her “distress” and loneliness, and denied her firm had targeted “vulnerable people” to snap up homes at knockdown prices.
But reinstating Thomson would have been controversial for the SNP, especially after a week that saw Glasgow East MP Natalie McGarry charged with fraud and Dundee West MP Chris Law quizzed by the police over Indyref campaigning.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel