John Swinney versus Andy Burnham: the intriguing new rivalry in British politics

It is a harbinger for UK prime minister Andy Burnham that the patron saint of Scotland is his namesake, St Andrew: polls show the Labour Party leader is, somewhat incongruously, the most popular political leader in the Celtic nation, which has been run for two decades by his party’s bitter northern rival, the Scottish National Party (SNP).All the attention was meant to be on the SNP heading into the weekend, as the independence-seeking party – months after it enjoyed yet another thumping Holyrood election win in May – held its annual conference in recent days in the oil-rich city of Aberdeen.Instead, Burnham’s spoiler visit to Motherwell in Scotland on Friday in the middle of the SNP’s victory shindig threw a focus on the intriguing rivalry developing between the currently omnipresent UK prime minister and John Swinney, the SNP’s first minister of Scotland.Apart from the long-dead Tory leader Margaret Thatcher, Swinney was the only other politician namechecked from the stage by Burnham when the Labour leader hosted his own party’s gathering in Liverpool last month.READ MORETo boos from the Labour crowd, he complained that Swinney had, on the day Burnham’s father died, predicted the UK leader would be the last prime minister of the union. Burnham, fighting back tears, acknowledged Swinney may not have known he was grieving when he made the quip, but publicly noting it still seemed like a calculated dig.Senior SNP government sources told The Irish Times in Aberdeen at the weekend that Burnham’s Liverpool outburst, and his decision last week to visit Scotland during the SNP conference, “shows we are getting to them”.They seemed happy about it, grateful the SNP had another Downing Street rival to use as a focal point on which to project the party’s ire about Westminster. But they felt the dig about Swinney’s comments on the day Burnham’s father died were “below the belt”.“Everyone knows John is a man of good character who would never want to insult someone grieving his father,” one SNP minister told me. “If anything, it has galvanised us all behind him even more. We’re not afraid of a fight.”Burnham’s visit to Scotland was, ostensibly, to urge Swinney to join forces with him to devolve powers away from Holyrood into the rest of Scotland. Independence was off the agenda, Burnham said, but they should work together to empower Scottish regions.SNP sources highlighted that Scotland’s government had already begun this process, independently of Burnham’s intervention. Swinney’s administration has launched a review of proposals to replace Scotland’s 32 councils with six or seven regional authorities, which would sit above about 120 community councils.The issue was the subject of a Friday morning SNP fringe event, where cabinet secretary Ivan McKee was barracked by some SNP councillors over the vagueness of the plan. He responded that it was still in its early stages and that the government would listen to everyone’s point of view. A report on the issue is due in December.Later on Friday, a gaggle of photographers gathered at the bottom of the big escalator at the Aberdeen TECA conference venue lobby awaiting the arrival of Swinney, whom they had been tipped off was on his way. Perhaps wary of being compared to the image of the notorious 2016 election campaign entrance of Donald Trump, Swinney eschewed the escalator for a big descent and instead walked the stairs to greet those below.Having stabilised the once-wobbling SNP since taking over as leader, veteran party stalwart Swinney confidently strode across the TECA exhibition hall. He can present himself as a winner, a man now with his own mandate, after battering Scottish Labour in May.One of the first stalls he visited was for moustache-themed Movember, a charity that promotes men’s mental health – by getting them to grow soup strainers each November.“Would you do Movember?” a charity official asked him. The shaven-headed Scottish first minister’s naked pate suggests growing hair may not be his forte. He laughed: “However supportive I am of your objectives, it’s not going to be possible for me.”All around him, stalls sold merchandise promoting the SNP and its central cause, securing another Scottish independence referendum after losing the one in 2014. SNP members could buy “Aye, Decided!” independence hoodies for £35 (€41.50).[ A win for the Scottish National Party does not mean the UK is ‘cracking at the seams’Opens in new window ]In the heaving bars of Aberdeen that night, however, party rank and file expressed worries that the SNP had no real strategy for forcing Burnham to give them another vote.Meanwhile, Aberdeen’s raucous student nightlife filled the streets of the city that is the base for the now-fading North Sea oil boom. Many wore fancy dress. The Irish Times mixed with four different Ali Gs in bright yellow tracksuits in the Belmont chipper.There were sore heads at the TECA next morning, the day of Swinney’s big speech. Yet senior SNP sources told The Irish Times that the party had a plan to give Burnham an independence headache.First minister of Scotland John Swinney poses with his son Matthew and wife Elizabeth after his speech during the 92nd SNP conference on Saturday in Aberdeen, Scotland. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty They said the SNP’s hope was that the next UK general election produces the mother of all hung parliaments in Westminster, but with Labour as the biggest party. Polls show the SNP could have 40 seats, and possibly the balance of power. It could seek an independence vote as the price for enabling another Burnham UK government.On Friday night, Swinney had joked at one drinks event that he was “in Burnham’s head and he was in my pocket”. Now, on Saturday, the first minister had a chance to respond to the UK prime minister’s jibes at him.A grinning Swinney said he sensed “panic on the streets of Manchester”, the English city the UK prime minister used to run. Later, just as Burnham had in Liverpool, Swinney became emotional as he said he wanted independence for the future of his son.“We build the future on the dreams of those who come next,” he said.What next for the SNP and its long-held, defining dream of Scottish independence? Swinney and Burnham may yet have more to discuss.