I was extremely sorry - and frankly shocked - to discover an hour or two ago that Eva Comrie has left the Alba Party. I don't know her exact reasons for leaving, so I can't analyse the significance of it with any precision. But there are a couple of common sense observations that can be made. Firstly, I've always had the impression that she was probably the second most popular person in the Alba leadership, after only Alex Salmond himself (her 82% to 18% victory in the recent Equalities Convener election would support that impression), and she's always been very supportive of Mr Salmond personally. So this is not a development that can be brushed off lightly - people who see her as a political lodestar are going to be upset and bewildered about losing her and will want answers from the leadership that may not be immediately forthcoming. And secondly, this fits into a pattern of a number of very senior people within the party either leaving altogether or stepping back. It's a statement of the obvious that none of this would be happening if the party was in a good place internally, which is a frustrating thing to have to say at a time when Alba should really be going places after the addition of rocket-fuel from the defections of Ash Regan and Chris Cullen.
My own view, as I've said many times, is that the solution can only lie in greater transparency and internal democratisation. There was an interesting exchange in the comments section of this blog the other day between someone who felt that internal democracy doesn't matter because the most electorally successful parties are often centrally controlled, and someone who pointed out that a centrally controlled party which is not electorally successful is the worst of all worlds. I think that's right - members will tolerate almost anything if the electoral triumphs are free-flowing, but in a relatively small party which has yet to demonstrate an election-winning capacity, the trade-off needed to keep members on board is empowerment. They need to feel their voices are heard and that they are the party's ultimate masters - and if they don't feel that way, there's a danger they may start to look for that empowerment elsewhere.