The glory days are over as Peter Murrell, chief executive of the Scottish Nationalists for almost 25 years, exits stage left to join his wife Nicola Sturgeon off the podium. He took responsibility for lying about a recent fall in membership numbers which critics feared might see the the bogus 30,000 being used by the SNP ‘party machine’ to support Humza Yousaf. He is seen as the continuity candidate, preferred by the establishment to take over as First Minister.
Despite being seen as a political power-couple par excellence and skilled at winning elections, Murrell and Sturgeon leave behind them a party in freefall and a string of scandals from mismanaged ferry contracts to questions over campaign funds, as well as a country suffering the consequences of the ‘monomania’ with independence obscuring the need to improve failing public services.
Peter Murrell, 8 December 1964 Edinburgh, is a Sun Sagittarius conjunct South Node square a fearsome collection of Pluto, Mars, Uranus in Virgo – more chaotic than he appears, determined and ruthless. He also has the Boris Johnson over-confident/over-optimistic Jupiter in Taurus opposition Neptune and Venus in Scorpio. Tr Uranus is shaking that up exactly now, bringing him down to earth with a bump for once to be forced to face a cold dose of reality.
His Jupiter falls in Nicola’s 7th conjunct her Saturn so he boosts her morale and takes the edge off her negativity. Like, her he has an Aquarius Moon.
It was always a relationship geared towards work with a composite Sun, Venus opposition Saturn; and a publicity-attracting Mars square Neptune. He met his future wife in 1998 at a SNP youth weekend which he was organising. They started working together in 2003, announced their relationship in 2004 at the party’s annual conference and married six years later. Alex Salmond always said their relationship in holding to two top slots would be a recipe for disaster and it contributed to their falling out. As it happens it lasted longer than expected. But it will be a difficult transition to life away from the power centre and spotlight with tr Uranus hitting the composite Mars and Neptune from mid 2023 into 2024.
Nicola Sturgeon, 19 July 1970 3.16 pm, Irvine, Scotland, always was facing a complete dead-halt, scary, trapped, enraging phase as tr Pluto moved into Aquarius from this week opposing her Mars in Leo on and off till late 2024.
Astro-thought. Murrell has his Neptune at 18 degrees Scorpio. The Scotland 25 March 1005 chart has its Pluto at 18 degrees Scorpio. That 18 degree Fixed point will be rattled up by tr Uranus late April/early May – and has popped up in all manner of global charts in recent posts. It was highlighted last year as an indicator of history-changing times when Uranus, North Node and Mars came together at 18 degrees Taurus – see post 17 June 2022.
I had been struggling with the notion that all the charts I have seen it in recently were somehow mysteriously connected to one event. Maybe it is more likely that as a shift in the celestial tectonic plates occur with this being an especially sensitive point, that it rattles up significant figures but all within their own sphere of operations. An underground volcano sends up a tsunami which spreads out across a broad coast line. Different regions, different outcomes but all from the same trigger point.
Whither Scotland? None of the three candidates looks up to much, so are likely to be interim cup holders. The SNP having moved through its Uranus Return in 2018 and its Third Saturn Return early this has shot its bolt for the time being and will be back to the drawing board for a re-vision for some time to come. But Scottish Labour and indeed Tories are not exactly on form either, so it’s anyone’s guess.
Add On: Mike Russell, 9 August 1953, has taken over as SNP CEO from 18 March 2023. His term chart hints at a dire year ahead as he proclaims the party is in “a tremendous mess”. There is a dithery, indecisive Sun Neptune conjunct square Mars – and tr Neptune won’t clear the exact aspects until January 2025. Plus the Sun Neptune conjunction will close to exact in 2025 for much of the same. Assuming he stays in position it will be a muddy trail ahead.
He is a stalwart and influential/controlling Sun Pluto in Leo sitting on the midpoint of a Jupiter trine Saturn Neptune. His Sun Pluto will be rattled up by tr Uranus jolting squares from now onwards, more so after mid year into early 2024.
In Scotland everyone says Sturgeon lives with a woman. It’s a lavender marriage. It’s a shame she can’t be honest about this.
Nicolas Sturgeon’s sister let it be known that she would rather vote Conservative! Oh to be a fly on that wall at Christmas.
Thank you. Perhaps the 18 degree shift may be heralding a change for Scotland? As the Scottish Chart has its Moon at 2 degrees in its Virgo 2nd house (Money) . Transiting Pluto in its 7th Aquarius (Partnerships) will start to quincunx this Moon in 2024 with an exact quincunx in 2025, along with transiting Pluto sextile its Mercury in the 10th House. Scotland may have it own authority, yet with Pluto ruling the 8th house ( others peoples money) there could be discussions about resetting the Barnett Formula as it has been tabled for debate by an MP, with its second reading in June 2023. Interestingly the SNP has its Venus in the 8th house, squaring Chiron in the 10th and in opposition to the Scottish Chart Moon in Virgo. Which makes me think there will be a very in-depth discussion concerning why Scottish voters have a far better deal than the rest of Britain, which may severely threaten the SNP popularity and wound them. The SNP’s Mars conjunct their Sun, with a wide Mars conjunction to Uranus could make for a very combative argument and a quick race for Independence if they lose the money.
Scotland has the best performing public services in the UK.
And before anyone says that’s because we get more per head per population ( true) Scotland is one of only three areas in the UK that make a net contribution to the UK. But Scotland also chooses different priorities and not wasting large amounts of money. The ferries difficulty is a tiny molehill compared to the Colossus of corruption that is the UK government.
Those who think independence is going away are going to be sorely disappointed.
Corruption in UK government.. fair ..
But please don’t be blind to corruption in the top of Scottish government.. I think you missed the news about why Peter resigned..
And if your bar of Scotland politics being better than Westminster one clearly you have set your bar low
It seems to me that the Scots, who in general are a left wing electorate, rejected the Blair/Brown neo liberal right wing Thatcherite with fluffy edges iteration of the Labour Party, correctly realising that it is/was merely the Conservative Party in disguise.
The consequent capture of Scotland by the SNP was never about an organic wish for independence amongst the majority of Scottish voters – they emphatically rejected independence in the 2014 Referendum – but a rejection of the Labour Party which saw Scotland merely as a vote farm to exploit in order to press on with its neo liberal globalist Thatcherite agenda.
The present settlement works well for Scotland – big fat subsidies from England, a local rejection of Westminster, and the kind of socialist policies most Scots want.
Sturgeon’s fatal error was to press on too fanatically with the transgender issue.
Scotland was very Conservative for decades, until Maggie Thatcher decided to test her Poll Tax – new community tax – in Scotland, before rolling it out in England.