Former Daily Record editor Murray Foote has been named the new chief executive of the Scottish National Party.
Foote was previously head of media for the SNP but left amid the party’s membership figure scandal earlier this year, accusing party leadership of having given him false information.
That scandal led to Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, the previous chief executive of the SNP Peter Murrell, resigning his role in March. SNP president Mike Russell has been serving as temporary chief executive since then.
Foote said he looked forward “to helping build the campaign for independence, both by strengthening the SNP’s headquarter functions and supporting the party’s formidable organisation across Scotland”.
Foote became editor of the Daily Record in 2014, having been deputy editor since 2000. He had stints before the Record at the Dundee Evening Telegraph, Aberdeen Evening Express, Glasgow Evening Times, Scottish Daily Mail and the Scottish Mirror.
He left the editor’s chair, as well as his role as Media Scotland editor in chief (nationals), four years later. The paper was named Scottish Newspaper of the Year three times during his tenure as editor.
Foote was also behind “the vow”, a declaration published on the Record’s front page days before the 2014 independence referendum which promised the Westminster parties would give more powers to Scotland should the country vote “no” on independence.
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