SNP prepare for tough by-election in Thomson’s seat

Michelle Thomson, right, on the campaign trail prior to the May election. Picture: Steven Scott Taylor

THE SNP has already started preparing for a by-election in Michelle Thomson’s seat as the controversy over her property deals intensifies, Scotland on Sunday has learned.

An emergency meeting was held in Thomson’s Edinburgh West constituency last week as senior figures in the local SNP branch discussed the damage done to the party by the scandal.

“I will be astonished if she doesn’t resign very soon. The SNP are already preparing for a by-election in Edinburgh West and it is going to be a very hard seat to hold,” one SNP insider told Scotland on Sunday.

“Councillors and people in the Scottish Parliament are completely paranoid. Michelle Thomson is dragging the party into an unenviable position because irrespective of the final outcome, the property scandal will never go away. It is already a bad news story and it is probably going to get a lot worse..”

There are also suggestions that the controversy is causing a split in the party leadership, with Sturgeon wanting to hang Thomson out to dry, and her predecessor Alex Salmond keen for her to remain as an MP and not bow to media pressure.

SNP sources say the party regards what happens next to Thomson as a real test of how much power Sturgeon can wield over her newly elected Westminster group and the strong-willed former first minister.

One SNP insider said: “Salmond likes businesspeople. He likes people who make money. But Nicola is in charge and definitely wants people to be whiter than white. She wants the party to be above reproach.”

Thomson resigned the SNP whip at Westminster last week, but the scandal has shown no sign of abating as more questions have been raised about her involvement in property deals arranged through her solicitor, Christopher Hales, who has been struck off.

The action was taken against Hales after a Scottish solicitors’ disciplinary tribunal examined a series of property deals, which it described as possible mortgage fraud.

Hale was acting for Thomson’s firm M&F Property Solutions, which also has her husband Peter as a partner. The deals involved the purchase of property at knockdown prices from families in financial straits who were in a rush to sell. Thomson has maintained that she has always acted within the law.

More controversy has arisen over the Law Society of Scotland’s handling of the case, with opposition politicians questioning why it took a year for the solicitors’ governing body to alert prosecutors to the potential mortgage fraud.