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Keeping the Dream Alive: An Insider's Account of a Tumultuous Decade in Scottish Politics

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Keeping the Dream Alive: An Insider's Account of a Tumultuous Decade in Scottish Politics

By: Joanna Cherry
Narrated by: Joanna Cherry
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In 2015, the landscape of British politics was changed forever - Westminster was suddenly the new workplace for dozens of freshly elected SNP members. What followed was one of the most remarkable decades in British political history.


Joanna Cherry was part of this cohort, and in this explosive and revealing memoir she tells her own story of Scottish and British politics during this turbulent period .Covering everything from the party's rejection of its popular leader, Alex Salmond, to the scandals that engulfed his successor Nicola Sturgeon, Cherry also reflects on the opportunities that followed the 2015 landslide and offers remarkable insight into why the party failed to further the cause of independence despite a series of electoral victories.

As well as offering an astonishing insider's view of the culture of the SNP, Keeping the Dream Alive also looks to the future and offers a clear-eyed view of how political reform in Scotland and the revival of the independence cause could take place.©2026 Joanna Cherry Europe Great Britain Political Science Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Women in Politics Highlander
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I am not a nationalist, but have always had admiration for Joanna Cherry in terms in integrity and intellect. I have a keen interest in politics, and at one point I remember thinking if Joanna became SNP leader Scotland would be more likely to be independent. What she gives us here is an informed insight into the SNP, being clear to distinguish between fact and her own opinion. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to understand the real culture which existed in the SNP

Compelling insight into Scottish politics

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Joanna Cherry writes like a lawyer & a distinguished KC at that. She was an unusual political animal with a successful career in law & life experience as opposed to the party apparatchiks that inhibit the SNP Holyrood group.
She is principled & applied logic and natural justice to most issues, a practice that alienated her from her party’s hierarchy .
Her analytical abilities allows her to dissect the way Sturgeon ran her party with an agenda of self aggrandisement masking deep insecurities . She was a disaster for the cause of independence and Cherry’s book could easily be an indictment from her prosecutorial career .
Although ever controversial, it does help when you end up right about almost all the challenging issue .
A brave attempt to set out a way forward for the independence movement struck me as a classic case of hope over experience .
However this expose is a valuable record of years of wasted opportunities & gross mismanagement .

The attention to fine political & legal detail in such a dynamically hostile environment

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I liked how is was full of new information and easy to read thanks Joanna SNP Supporter

The honesty is refreshing

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A forensic account of Joanna’s time within the Scottish National Party. She eloquently, with the sharp eye and professional understanding of the political and legal process, recounts the events within her party as a parliamentarian. Covering the party’s treatment of herself and others particularly Alex Salmond and Margaret Ferrier. A book I’ll return to again and again; recommend to anyone who wants to explore SNP culture and internal politics within the party.

Forensic

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Cherry sets out her experiences of the SNP, and provides a meticulous, blow by shattering blow account of Sturgeon's leadership and what she chose to ignore, from other voices on Alex Salmond, her leadership style and, of course, the disasters of gender reform and the opportunities missed on independence. That, according to a statement relayed by her lawyer, Sturgeon is "not interested in anything Joanna Cherry has to say" is testament to her unnecessary failures.

Essential counterpoint to Sturgeon's memoir

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