Joanna Cherry: Defeat for veteran MP who challenged Sturgeon

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Louise Thomas

Editor

Joanna Cherry spent much of her time as an SNP MP criticising the party’s leadership and policies on gender.

The veteran politician was standing in the Edinburgh South West seat but was ultimately defeated by Labour’s Scott Arthur.

Her defeat comes after a Labour resurgence in Scotland.

She was first elected in 2015 and sat on the party’s front bench as justice and home affairs spokeswoman at Westminster.

Ms Cherry rose to prominence after she led the challenge against Boris Johnson’s five-week proroguing of parliament, which was ruled unlawful by the UK’s highest court.

But in 2021, the former lawyer was sacked from her party’s front bench after a clash with ex-SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford.

The outspoken politician also publicly disagreed with former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and the party’s plans for gender reform laws.

Following Ms Sturgeon’s resignation as party leader, Ms Cherry called for the party to move towards a new leadership style, breaking away from the “toxic” atmosphere she said existed towards her in the party.

The bitter leadership contest to replace Ms Sturgeon saw her become the only parliamentarian to endorse Ash Regan, who later defected to Alex Salmond’s Alba party.

Ms Cherry repeatedly rejected claims she would also defect to Alba and instead aligned herself under the SNP’s new leadership.

The Edinburgh South West seat was one of Scotland’s knife-edge seats between SNP and Labour in this election.