1 week Ago By [email protected] (Hannah Rodger)
SUNDAY MAIL EXCLUSIVE: The former council boss and SNP candidate will take over temporarily. Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter We have more newsletters Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter We have more newsletters THE SNP has appointed the former head of Stirling Council as its interim boss. The Sunday Mail understands Carol Beattie, who was Chief Executive of Stirling Council until May this year, will take over from Murray Foote who quit unexpectedly yesterday.
Former Daily Record editor Foote was appointed as the SNP chief 14 months ago under Humza Yousaf. He had previously been head of the party's parliamentary communications but was forced to quit after lying to the Sunday Mail about the SNP's membership figures in March 2023. Then-chief executive Peter Murrell also quit .
We had reported accurately that the party was facing a fall in numbers which Foote described as "drivel". Beattie is due to take over the temporary post immediately before a full recruitment process gets underway for a permanent replacement. In May she stood down from the top job in Stirling council stating she was taking up another role in the private sector .
But she was quickly selected as the SNP's candidate in the Falkirk South council by-election, which she lost to Labour's Claire Aitken on Thursday night. In September s he was forced to apologise after making disparaging comments on social media about the Duchess of Cambridge following her cancer diagnosis. The article Kate Middleton claimed "lesser mortals would have stayed at home" but the Royal going out in public showed ''the show goes on".
Beattie said "intelligent people don't support the monarchy" and those who did "use them as symbols of their bigotry or xenophobic values". After the comments were criticised, she said: "I apologise for any offence caused by the language I used and have removed the tweets." SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown MSP said: “Today the party’s National Executive Committee has appointed Carol Beattie as interim Chief Executive, and I warmly welcome her to this role at a crucial time for our party.
“She brings considerable experience to the role and her appointment will continue the work, under John Swinney’s leadership, to ensure a professional, modern, dynamic election-winning organisation. “The SNP remains the dominant political force in Scotland - and Carol Beattie’s appointment will ensure we remain equipped for the tasks ahead.” Beattie said: “It’s a huge honour to take up the position of interim Chief Executive of the SNP.
“I look forward to meeting the team at the earliest opportunity and working with colleagues whose efforts have delivered the success of the SNP to date. “I intend to waste no time in getting on with the important job of strengthening the party’s headquarters functions and supporting the party as a formidable national organisation.”.
