Joanna Cherry sacking a tremor before SNP volcano explodes

Why was Joanna Cherry, one of the SNP’s most able Commons performers, sacked from the SNP front bench?

Reshuffling the SNP Westminster pack may not seem like a big deal, but the removal of the prominent Salmond ally lifts the lid on the blistering volcano this outwardly-successful campaigning machine sits on.

Three elements have come together in the demotion which offer a glimpse into deep splits within the party.

Firstly, Cherry may have been on the wrong side of the gender identification row which has consumed the SNP lately.

Cherry, an outspoken feminist, holds the gains for women’s rights over decades could be swept away by proposed Holyrood legislation allowing men to simply self-declare themselves as women.

Nicola Sturgeon intervened in the row last week, saying transphobia was not acceptable in the SNP.

Secondly, Cherry is an advocate of a plan B for independence, her version being a legal challenge asserting the Scottish parliament’s right to hold a vote at the time of its choosing.

Given that she has form in beating Boris Johnson in court over his attempt to close down parliament, the party leadership has now moved onto this ground, acknowledging the idea has traction with the grassroots.

A sign of just how popular plan B and its author are came in last November’s membership elections to the SNP’s NEC which saw Cherry come in a full furlong ahead of her nearest rivals.

If the leadership needed a signal that a purge a potential leadership rival was due, that was it.

Cherry was, in any case, considered disloyal in a party that wants its politicians to be ciphers of the leader not critics.

Months before the NEC thwarted Cherry’s plans to vie with Angus Robertson over the nomination for the Edinburgh Central seat in what was seen as a proxy battle to succeed Sturgeon, should the First Minister fall under a political bus.

This leads to the third element. Joanna Cherry is very much seen as a supporter of Alex Salmond as he pursues his revenge in a vendetta against Sturgeon and her supports that saw him cleared of serious charges in court last year.

With the Holyrood investigation to hear in just over a week the former First Minister's claims that Sturgeon misled parliament over the issue, the SNP is on dangerous ground.

The sacking of Cherry could just be a tremor before the volcano explodes.