Following her graduation, Cherry worked as a research assistant with the Scottish Law Commission (1990) before practicing as a solicitor with the Edinburgh legal firm Brodies WS until 1995. She also worked as a part-time tutor in constitutional law, family law and civil court practice at the University of Edinburgh from 1990 to 1996.[5]
Cherry was admitted as an advocate in 1995, with a particular interest in employment and industrial relations, health and safety, mental health, personal injury and professional negligence.[2][5]
She served as a Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Government from 2003 to 2008, and as an Advocate Depute and Senior Advocate Depute from 2008 until 2011. She was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 2009[6] (becoming a King's Counsel upon the death of Elizabeth II) and was an advocate with the Arnot Manderson stable within the Faculty of Advocates[7] until her election to parliament.[8]
At the 2015 general election, Cherry was elected to Parliament as MP for Edinburgh South West with 43% of the vote and a majority of 8,135.[10][11] Following her election, Cherry was appointed as the SNP spokesperson for Justice and Home Affairs at Westminster.[12]
In September 2016, she issued an apology after defending a comedy rap group Witsherface performance at a pro-independence event that had been criticised as homophobic.[13] The performance had called Conservative leader Ruth Davidson "Dykey' D" and had portrayed her making her inappropriate comments towards SNP MP Mhairi Black.[14]
In May 2017, Cherry apologised for telling journalists that a nurse, who had told a TV debate audience she had been unable to survive on her salary and had to use food banks, was suspected to be the wife of a Conservative councillor. These false claims were retweeted by other SNP politicians, with the nurse experiencing online and offline harassment.[15]
2017–19 Parliament
Cherry was re-elected as MP for Edinburgh South West at the snap 2017 general election with a decreased vote share of 35.6% and a decreased majority of 1,097.[16][17] Following the election, she came second to Ian Blackford by a few votes to succeed Angus Robertson as SNP Westminster group leader.[18]
In May 2019, executives from Facebook and Twitter appeared before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, of which Cherry was a member,[20] and faced accusations over the way they handled abuse and harassment of parliamentarians on social media. Cherry cited several abusive tweets, that were not removed swiftly by Twitter, something the company's head of UK government, public policy and philanthropy, Katy Minshall, described as "absolutely an undesirable situation".[21] Following the meeting, Cherry received police protection whilst attending her constituency surgery, having received a death threat sent via social media.[22]
Following a High Court ruling in May 2019, in favour of The Daily Telegraph, The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority released figures confirming that 377 MPs had had their parliamentary credit cards suspended for "late, incomplete or incorrect expenses claims since 2015".[23] Cherry was included on that list, with the paper reporting that she had had her official credit card repeatedly suspended for failing to repay money on time.[24]
On 11 May 2019 The Times reported that Cherry was being investigated by the House of Commons over bullying complaints from four former employees.[25] Cherry rejected the allegations, and alleged that they were part of a politically motivated 'smear' campaign, from those within the SNP ranks who opposed her and her views.[26][27] One former staff member took the complaint forward, alleging that Cherry both condoned bullying by her office manager and partook in bullying behaviour herself. Cherry was exonerated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and given leave to issue a statement to that effect – "I'm pleased to be able to advise that I have been exonerated after an independent investigation into complaints that I had either condoned or been engaged in bullying within my constituency office.".[28]
At the 2019 general election, Cherry was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 47.6% and an increased majority of 11,982.[30][31]
In February 2020, Cherry announced that she was seeking nomination from the SNP Edinburgh Central constituency branch to run as the candidate for Edinburgh Central in the Scottish Parliament and would stand down as an MP in the House of Commons if elected.[32]Angus Robertson also announced his intention to seek nomination for the Edinburgh Central constituency. In July 2020, Cherry announced she was ruling out a bid for Holyrood, stating that the conditions for standing as an MSP were unreasonable and made a fair contest involving her "impossible".[33]
In January 2021, she supported an amendment to the (devolved) Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 that would have exempted "criticism of matters relating to transgender identity" from violating provisions relating to protected characteristics in the bill.[34] Later that month, she was criticised by SNP colleague Kirsty Blackman, after attacking and threatening to sue the party's LGBT wing, who had been critical of her defence of Sarah Phillimore, who had been banned from Twitter for allegedly making transphobic and antisemitic statements.[35][36]
A week later, Cherry was sacked from the SNP's front bench on 1 February 2021 by the party leadership.[18] Cherry tweeted: "Despite hard work, results and a strong reputation I've been sacked today from the SNP front bench".[37] The party's Westminster leader Ian Blackford said: "Team working and cooperation are key to ensure results and this reshuffle will give us a strong team to take us forward".[38] An SNP spokesman said in a statement: "Joanna Cherry was removed from the front bench because of unacceptable behaviour, which did not meet the standards expected of a front bench spokesperson – not because of the views she holds".[39]
On 21 February 2021, Cherry was criticised by the Scottish branch of PEN International for her attempts to silence critics who questioned her by threatening defamation action.[40] After Cherry disputed she had taken legal action, letters from her solicitors on her behalf were published. Jo Maugham, with whom she had worked on the legal challenge over Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament, said "Because defending defamation proceedings is so expensive, a well-funded claimant can bully critics into silence and, by marking the threats 'confidential', suppress transparency over the fact they are doing so. This feels profoundly wrong to me".[41]
On 26 March 2021, Cherry announced that she would step back from her public duties for health reasons.[42] On 10 May 2021, following the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, she began a gradual return to her public activities.[43] On 31 May 2021, she resigned from the SNP national executive committee.[44]
2021-24: Backbench campaigning
In June 2021, she signalled her support for For Women Scotland campaigner Marion Millar, who was charged under the Malicious Communications Act 1988, with a hate-crime aggravator, for allegedly transphobic and homophobic social media posts.[45] Later that month, Cherry announced that she was returning to the bar to defend Millar in court.[46] The case was subsequently dropped by prosecutors.[47]
In October 2022, with fellow "gender critical" parliamentarians Rosie Duffield and Anne Jenkin, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington, Cherry set up a cross-party "biology policy unit", "to help ensure policies across the public sector that are based on gender identity theory are documented and scrutinised".[50]
During the 2023 SNP leadership contest, Cherry was the only SNP parliamentarian to endorse Ash Regan, and introduced her at her campaign launch.[51] On 13 February, Cherry called for SNP chief executive Peter Murrell—husband of outgoing party leader Nicola Sturgeon—to step down during the contest.[52] He stepped down on 17 March over a dispute around publication of membership numbers.[53]
In May 2023, The Stand Comedy Club cancelled a proposed event by Cherry, who compared the cancellation to actions by the Stasi. The Stand reversed the cancellation when Cherry threatened to make a legal claim against them for discrimination in respect of her "gender-critical" beliefs.[54][55] Following her Stand appearance that August, Cherry said that she felt "palpable hostility" from staff working the event, saying "Stand staff saw fit to continue the unlawful harassment of me on account of my sexuality and beliefs". The manager of the event said: "[As] one of only four people she dealt with on the day (only two of them staff of the Stand) I am very surprised at this. It was not raised at the event and cannot imagine what she is talking about."[56]
In July 2023 Cherry appeared in court over what she described as "frightening threats".[57] Her chief of staff, Fraser Thomson, said: "I took it to be a very serious attempt on Joanna Cherry's life". A 23-year-old woman was cleared of threatening her: the judge found reasonable doubt that the tweet "STG I am gonna pop Joanna Cherry", in reply to a newspaper article on her, was grossly offensive, or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character.[58]
After Parliament
In the 2024 General Election, Cherry lost her seat to the Scottish Labour Party, in a swing that the Centre on Constitutional Change described as "disproportionately large";[59] Allan Faulds of Ballot Box Scotland attributed this outlying result to her "thoroughly marmite"[60] nature.
After she lost her seat, Cherry criticised her former party leader Nicola Sturgeon and said under her leadership the SNP's "reputation of governing competently and for integrity has taken a severe battering in the last couple of years." Sturgeon responded that it would be the "easy solution" for people to "take refuge in somehow it’s all my fault".[61]
A week after the election Cherry ruled out standing for the Scottish Parliament in the 2026 election unless the party addresses her complaints and "faces up to the problem of misogyny" following an argument with a former party staffer on Twitter, who had accused her of bullying.[62]
Political positions
Scottish independence
Cherry supports both Scottish independence and a potential second Scottish independence referendum.[63][64] She has been described as a more hardline supporter of independence, advocating a less cautious approach towards holding a second referendum than Nicola Sturgeon, including the holding a referendum even if the Scottish government could not come to an agreement with the British government over such a referendum.[65][66][67][68] She has stated that she believes emulating the Irish First Dáil could be a path forward for the Scottish independence movement, stating that "One hundred years ago, Irish independence came about not as a result of a referendum but as a result of a treaty negotiated between Irish parliamentarians and the British Government after nationalist MPs had won the majority of Irish seats in the 1918 general election and withdrawn to form a provisional government in Dublin".[69] She has additionally denied that she advocates for illegally holding a referendum.[70]
Political parties
In 2015 Cherry said that as a teenager, she wanted to be a Labour MP.[1] She was very involved with Labour Students while at university, a contemporary of Douglas Alexander. She remained in the Labour Party after graduation, before becoming disillusioned in their lack of action on home rule and insufficient opposition to the Poll tax. She started voting for the SNP "in the mid 90s before joining the party in 2008".[1]
After her lack of inclusion in Ian Blackford's front bench in 2021, she spoke of approaches from that party for her to defect, saying "I've had approaches from people in the Labour Party and people in the Alba party". She added: "If I lived in England, I would definitely be a member of the Labour Party. I have a great affection for the Labour Party".[71]
Cherry has had a number of views on the Bute House Agreement of 2021, which set up a power-sharing agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens, whose position on trans rights she disagreed with vehemently. In 2021, she said that she had voted to support the agreement,[72] but in 2023 told a show at the Fringe, where she denied calling for the agreement to be "ripped up", that she had voted against it in 2021.[73] In April 2024 she posted, while calling for the end of the agreement, that she had voted against it in 2021[74] before admitting[75] that she had supported it.[76]
Alex Salmond
She has long admired Alex Salmond, describing him after her election alongside him as "the person I most admire in my political life by a mile".[1]
During the accusations and charges of sexual harassment against the former SNP leader and First Minister, Cherry was described as one of his allies in the party and a critic of then-leader Nicola Sturgeon.[77][78][79]
In March 2020, after Salmond was acquitted in court, she called for a public inquiry into the handling of the accusations against him.[80] Later that year she called for him to be reinstated to the party from which he had resigned.[81] In February 2021, she called for the government to release documents which Salmond claimed proved that Sturgeon had been part of a conspiracy against him.[82] In March 2021, when Salmond formed the Alba Party, Cherry denied speculation she would be defecting to join him.[83]
Before his trial, Cherry told Holyrood that "Alex is my friend, and I was brought up to stand by my friends. It's the kind of family I come from. Alex is clear that he's innocent and I respect that".[84] Following Salmond's death in October 2024, Cherry told the BBC that inappropriate sexual behaviour Salmond had admitted to was "very different from criminal behaviour", adding: "We’re all flawed individuals who do inappropriate things from time to time. He was acquitted of the criminal charges, and that’s a very significant matter."[85]
Cherry has argued that trans young people "must be treated like any other children with psychological problems" and called for Scotland's only gender identity clinic to be closed.[86][87] Cherry has denied accusations of transphobia, stating that she approaches the issue "as a feminist" and that there was a "big dose of misogyny" in debates over Gender Recognition Act reform. She said that the statement "women don't have penises" is an "undeniable biological fact".[88]
Cherry opposed reforms of the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland to allow transgender people to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate on the basis of a statutory declaration, rather than requiring interview by a panel and medical reports.[89][90][91] She has stated that she has faced abuse over her position and that sections of the SNP with opposing views have "engaged in performative histrionics redolent of the Salem witch trials".[92] She believe "many same-sex attracted women and those who hold gender-critical beliefs have found themselves in a relationship of coercive control with employers, service providers and membership organisations".[93]
Writing in The National in June 2021, Cherry stated that some veteran members of the LGBT+ community no longer felt welcome at Pride events due to their views on transgender rights, claimed that LGBT+ rights charity Stonewall's workplace inclusion schemes misrepresent the law, and stated her belief that "many same-sex attracted women and those who hold gender-critical beliefs have found themselves in a relationship of coercive control with employers, service providers and membership organisations".[94] She has faced criticism from LGBT charities over her views nd statements thereof.[95]
In November 2021, Cherry was accused of "justifying conversion therapy" for transgender people after she tweeted that a ban on conversion therapy "must not make it a criminal offence for therapists to try to help patients with gender dysphoria to feel comfortable in their birth sex".[96] In the days following her comments the SNP's official LGBTQ+ wing, Out for Independence, and SNP Students both called for party leadership to remove the whip from Cherry, and for an independent investigation into transphobia in the SNP.[97]
In July 2020, she called for the SNP to stop fighting against Brexit, stating that "we lost the battle and Brexit is now an irreversible reality."[102]
Personal life
Cherry lists her personal interests as travel, reading and swimming.[2] She is a lesbian.[103]
References
^ abcdBircham, Josh; Costello, Grant (November 2015). "52. Joanna Cherry". We are the 56. Freight Books. ISBN978-1910449516.
^"HGE24: Shares and Swings are Fascinating Things". Ballot box Scotland. 7 July 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024. Indeed, only four constituencies experienced losses in vote share above 20%, all of which have ready explanations; Na h-Eileanan an Iar where former SNP MP Angus MacNeil was standing as an Independent (and won 10%); Falkirk; Alloa and Grangemouth, both of which cover parts of the scandal-hit Michael Matheson's seat at Holyrood; and Edinburgh South West, seat of thoroughly marmite dissident (now-former) MP Joanna Cherry.
