Joanna Cherry is keen to move to Holyrood, telling a Fringe audience she wanted to be in government.
The MP said she hoped the current leadership would look at rules effectively banning Westminster-based politicians from flitting to Edinburgh.
The comments came during a wide-ranging 70-minute interview at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Ms Cherry also called on her party to renegotiate its coalition deal with the ‘totalitarian’ Scottish Greens.
She also accused colleagues of homophobic abuse and revealed she had threatened to take legal action against the SNP after the party tried to block her from speaking at a gender-critical event.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon says Alex Salmond 'not somebody I want in my life'
There was unprecedented security for a daytime Fringe event, with audience members being scanned and forbidden from taking bags into the venue. Nobody was allowed to buy alcohol.
In the end, just two protesters turned up outside, but only after most of the audience had already entered.
However, those involved with the show's production told The Herald they believed the dry ice was an accident rather than a deliberate attempt to disrupt.
The show was cancelled earlier this year after a number of "key operational staff, including venue management and box office personnel" at The Stand Comedy Club said they were unwilling to work on the event because of “concerns about Ms Cherry's views.”
The club, founded by one of Ms Cherry’s parliamentary colleagues, Tommy Sheppard, later reversed its decision admitting that the cancellation constituted “unlawful discrimination”.
More than 260 people filled the New Town Theatre for the event, giving the politician a rapturous welcome.
Speaking about the SNP group in Westminster, Ms Cherry said attitudes towards her had “palpably changed” since Stephen Flynn replaced Ian Blackford.
She said she had experienced homophobic bullying from colleagues under the previous regime.
Asked to give an example, she said: “A number of my colleagues harangued and tried to prevent me from speaking at the [gender-critical LGB alliance] conference and demanded that I have the whip removed.”
She said that she was determined to go and told the party that if they tried to prevent she would see them in court.
READ MORE: Joanna Cherry calls for SNP to renegotiate coalition deal with Greens
Ms Cherry said she believed the tide was turning in the debate around gender and sex, pointing to Labour’s u-turn on self-id.
“There are many people with misgivings about self-id scared to speak out because they've seen what's happened to me as a result.
“You know, not only did I lose my front bench position, there was also a determined effort to have me be expelled from the party. Or basically tried to bully me out of position.
"But I think that's over now.
“The leaderships under which that happened, both leaders, have moved on. And certainly, as I said, Stephen Flynn has been immensely supportive.
“We've had civilized discussions about my position on this issue and I'm in touch with Humza, also and I think he wants, my impression is, he wants to engage with a bit of healing about what's going on in the party.”
“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,” she added.
“Certainly since Stephen Flynn has become the leader of the Westminster group that has changed because Stephen is his own man. I think he's one to watch. I think he's a potential future SNP leader.”
“The intolerance that has happened within the SNP in recent years, I like to see it as a blip in our party's history. It's over. We move forward in a different way.”
Ms Cherry said she had never considered joining Alex Salmond’s Alba, “because that's what my enemies within the party want me to do and I'm very determined to stay within the SNP and to try and pull it back to where it should be.”
READ MORE: Joanna Cherry threatened to take legal action against SNP
Asked if she would move to Holyrood, Ms Cherry replied: “I don't want to be in opposition for the rest of my life. I would really like to be in government and that's why I would like to be able to stand for Holyrood.”
Ms Cherry was effectively blocked from running for a Scottish Parliament seat in 2021 after the party's governing NEC introduced strict new rules on dual mandates.
The new policy — brought in shortly after she made public her ambition to run for Edinburgh Central — meant she would only be allowed to be a candidate for Holyrood if she resigned her Westminster seat, close her office and make her staff redundant.
Ms Cherry told the audience: "I also think I would be of benefit to the SNP and other parties at Holyrood.
“The party’s under different management now and clearly we’re having a huge review of transparency and governance and I hope the sense of encouraging some of us who have got Westminster experience to think about coming to Holyrood will come to the fore during that period.
Taking questions from the crowd, Ms Cherry was asked if she thought the SNP’s agreement with the Scottish Greens should be renegotiated.
There have been calls in recent days from senior figures to look again at the Bute House Agreement, which was backed by 95% of SNP members.
“Yes,” the MP replied. “I voted against the agreement with the Greens and I'll tell you why I voted against it, because I think the Scottish Greens have become a totalitarian party.”
She added: “The best and most decent and most thoughtful parliamentarian they've ever had, Andy Wightman, was drummed out. “Some of their parliamentarians have behaved in a disgraceful way towards women, and there's a feeling that the tail is wagging the dog in Holyrood.
“The SNP have a huge mandate, the Greens don’t.”
“Ultimately, it’s up to the SNP to decide whether or not we stay in coalition with them but I think it’s something we should discuss as a party and I think there is an appetite to discuss it.
“Perhaps the bigger question is why do we fear debate? Why are we afraid of reviewing of an arrangement that should perhaps be terminated or maybe made better?”
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