My latest article on Christian Today…you can get the original here –
Kate Forbes’ departure from politics is a huge loss for Scotland
Kate Forbes, the deputy leader of the SNP, has announced that she will not be standing for re-election as a member of the Scottish Parliament next year. She has given as her reason the desire to spend more time with her family and especially her three-year-old daughter.
In our cynical world when a politician says they are stepping down for family reasons it is often assumed that that is code for some indiscretion that they have committed. But not in the case of Kate Forbes. She really is standing down for the honourable and beautiful reason of wanting to spend more time with her family, even if there may be other factors involved as well.
Perhaps she is aware that, despite all the noise and fuss, there is no chance of Scotland becoming independent within the next 10 years? Perhaps the limitations of being an MSP are not worth the hassle and trouble that she has had to go through? Perhaps she realises that her considerable talent can be used to better effect elsewhere to help people?
Kate is one of the most high-profile Christian politicians in the UK, and her departure from politics (for the moment) raises some significant questions. Not the least of which is whether it is possible for a biblical Christian to remain in any significant role in any major political party in the UK?
When Tim Farron resigned as leader of the not so Liberal Democrats in June 2017, he stated that he was “torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader”. But the treatment he received was mild in comparison to that ditched out to Kate Forbes.
When she stood for party leader against Humza Yousaf in 2023, she received a level of personal abuse and attack which is sadly all too indicative of how illiberal and narrow Scottish civic society has become – especially when it comes to Christians. This was noticed not only nationally but internationally. As a former moderator of the Free Church of Scotland I was asked to comment many times – for example on the BBC World Tonight and on Spectator TV.
The Spectator TV Interview on Kate Forbes with Kate Andrews
The journalist Stephen Daisley commends Kate Forbes for refusing to lie or be evasive about her beliefs. She was asked about abortion, gay marriage, sex before marriage and trans rights. She was honest. Something which many people admired, but the civic, media and political elites were horrified. How dare anyone not go along with the group think?!
Daisley comments, “Compelled to bear witness, she did so with her head held high, fighting the good fight and keeping the faith. It is one of the most personally admirable and politically suicidal decisions I have ever seen.”
The orchestrated mob attacks came even from the top. John Swinney, the current First Minister made a somewhat shocking personal attack on her during the 2023 leadership race, questioning whether her views on gay marriage made her “appropriate” to be leader of the SNP.
Mr Swinney is a professing Christian and a member of the Church of Scotland. Quite how he squares that with suggesting that someone who holds the same view of marriage as Christ is not fit to lead the country, is difficult to explain. More recently he sat silent in the Scottish Parliament when Patrick Harvie and Ross Greer of the Scottish Greens viciously attacked Forbes in the chamber.
There will be some in her party and in the Greens who will be popping the champagne corks just now. The progressives takeover of the SNP will now be completed. But it is difficult to see this as a smart move for them electorally and anything but disastrous for Scotland if they get back into power.
Meanwhile Forbes leaves with her stock high having been a backbencher, finance minister, finance secretary, leadership candidate, deputy first minister and economy secretary. She is widely regarded as Scotland’s most competent and effective politician and the only one in the SNP who business leaders admired.
Her witness to Christ and care for her family are to be commended. As Daisley points out, “perhaps she truly values motherhood above career, one of the few remaining mortal sins in a non-judgemental age.”
We pray for her – and her family. And we pray for a Scotland that is now far poorer because of the loss of its best leader.
David Robertson is the minister of Scots Kirk Presbyterian Church in Newcastle, New South Wales. He blogs at The Wee Flea.
Persecuting Kate Forbes – A Response to Kenny Farquharson – CT
David
I agree with all you have highlighted.
Swinney being a Christian is clouded by being in the C of S. I left the church after 52 years I couldn’t handle all that was being highlighted. Plus being a missionary I was not greatly supported by my church. I’m now in an evangelical church. I’ve spoken at many Free Churches across Scotland. Blessings David
I very much doubt that the departure of Kate Forbes from politics will make any difference, one way or another, to the decline of the SNP and Scottish society in general. While I am sure that she kept the faith. I am less convinced that she fought the good fight. Tim Farron stepped down noting the conflict between his Christian beliefs and political leadership. I have not seen any such dilemma cited by Kate Forbes, in respect of her stepping down. Perhaps you are being too hard on John Swinney. It is a long time since membership of the Church of Scotland carried any obligation in respect of following God’s word. Might he not, albeit inadvertently, simply be highlighting the incompatibility of being a Christian and membership of, let alone having a leadership role in, the SNP. He inhabits a world where not having been seen to back the winner in a leadership contest, can be catastrophic for a political career. Where I am sure Kate Forbes will be missed, will be in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch. As you point out, the ballot box has provided ample proof of her worth as a constituency MSP. On a lighter note, I noted that Iain Macwhirter, in Spiked Online, has described the Church to which you and Kate Forbes belong, as an evangelical sect. A bit below the belt?
Hi David, I just can’t figure Kate Forbes out. Friends I have in the Free church describe her as a lovely Christian person and I totally agree that there’s no reason why a professing evangelical Christian shouldn’t reach high office, but I find her public persona very irritating, all you see on TV is a very headstrong finger jabbing arrogance which is prevelant across most SNP politicians and not a hint of regret or remorse for all the scandals and wasted money. She has after all cut her teeth under the tutorlege of Sturgeon and Swinney who are both gutter politicians in my view.
I respect her for her nationalistic views, but I feel she’s being extremely dishonest when she’s giving interviews, now we hear that she told members at some recent meeting to avoid discussing what currency an independent Scotland would use? Whilst it’s never going to happen any time soon, currency and all the other key issues which the SNP are so evasive about, would affect all of us. That she as a professing Christian can’t bring herself to speak the truth is deeply concerning (for me anyway).
I think she’s just a very clever career politician who will no doubt make a lot of money on the back of being the deputy first minister. She probably will spill the beans about the SNP in the future. It’s all just a game, but she’s part of a rotten party which has wrecked Scotland on every level. The only winners are the politicians themselves who will soon be living a comfortable retirement. I take no comfort from the fact she’s a Christian in high office, because as far as I’m concerned she doesn’t behave like one.
David (Isle of Lewis)