"I JUST see these headlines and I think it’s mad. They’re written by people who either want to spread the idea of a major split or are out of touch. Or maybe they just like the drama of it.”

Ally, from Edinburgh, is talking about the civil war said to be raging in the SNP.

It’s got its own tribute Twitter account and hashtag and is said to be splitting the country’s biggest political force down the middle. Which side are you on, Salmond or Sturgeon? Everyone, it is said, has a side.

The fall-out between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon has been written about so many times it barely needs explaining, but the roots of it aren’t yet fully exposed. That won’t happen until the Scottish Parliament’s inquiry into the Scottish Government’s handling of the original allegations against its former head has run its course.

There’s good reason for the high degree of attention on this, and big issues at stake around accountability, transparency and more, and it involves many more key figures in the SNP, including Sturgeon’s chief executive husband Peter Murrell.

Other prominent figures like Joanna Cherry and Kenny MacAskill MP have clashed with the party’s leadership over selection rules and, this week, indyref2 funds.

But the SNP is riding high in the polls and preparing for a national conference which will set the stage for its 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign and, its members hope, the second referendum drive.

With less than one month to go until that conference, the Sunday National spoke with grassroots members across Scotland to get their take on what’s said to be the country’s most overriding political feud.

Ally (last name withheld) joined the SNP “to get over the disappointment of the indyref result”. The move formalised an association that had seen him vote for the party at every election since turning 18. He doesn’t routinely attend branch meetings, but many of his friends are also party members. “There’s plenty of argument and disagreement that goes on about things like indyref strategy or issues to do with equalities – and selections too just now – but it’s nowhere near the scale you’d think reading the news,” he says. “Let’s not kid ourselves, this happens in all parties. Are the Tories or Labour meant to be more coherent than the SNP is? There’s just not so much focus on that.

“When the allegations about Alex Salmond came out it was all over the message groups, but it’s died away now and you don’t get nearly as much of it. People are more talking about poll results and coronavirus. It’s not that it’s been forgotten about, it’s more that it’s not top of the agenda.”

Barry Weiland-Jarvis, organiser of the Elgin branch of the SNP, says he’s “always surprised” when he sees “these stories about us being in a perpetual state of civil war”, despite “robust debate” going on about a range of issues.

READ MORE: Alex Salmond calls for investigation into Nicola Sturgeon to be expanded

These include the wisdom of a “plan B” on another independence referendum and issues around reform of the Gender Recognition Act. The first of these won’t be debated at the upcoming conference in a controversial decision, the second is on the Scottish Government’s agenda but is on pause as a result of the pandemic.

Both of these matters are described as part of the Sturgeon/Salmond split.

Former SNP member Trish Spencer, from North Lanarkshire, says there is a “complete ideological split” around the latter. She left the party after becoming disillusioned with its internal workings and is also opposed to the proposed Hate Crime Bill. “All of that is telling me that Nicola Sturgeon and her inner group have got a very specific ideology that I find really concerning,” she says.

“I still want independence, I believe in independence. But I think the UK Government is doing more for that than any local independence campaign could do.

“People do conflate the SNP with independence – it’s very hard to dissociate them. I wholeheartedly believe in self-determination for the Scottish nation and its people, but I will not vote SNP again.”

Weiland-Jarvis sees it differently, saying people “extrapolate debate into ‘the party is at war’” unnecessarily. The issue of backing either Salmond or Sturgeon, he says, “doesn’t come up very often, if at all”.

“That’s not something that’s come across to me,” he goes on. “Most folk are concentrating on the key areas, getting the SNP message out there and fighting for our independence referendum. Most people realise the SNP is a party of a popular movement and it doesn’t matter who the leader is. We are champing at the bit to get out there and get going. There’s a real enthusiasm not just for the election but hopefully for the forthcoming referendum.”

Glasgow dad David Anderson switched to the SNP from Labour after deciding former first minister Jack McConnell “had no ambition for Scotland”. He visits Yes websites every day and says “you only have to read Craig Murray’s blog or Wings Over Scotland to see that there is” a party split. “There are lots of people on there who are against the slow but positive progress that Sturgeon’s leadership has had and would rather be radical with a universal declaration of independence,” he says, “and for whatever reason they don’t like her.

“I haven’t heard anyone talking about it in real life, just online. It’s a small percentage in a bubble.”

Another Glasgow member, who asked not to be named, says she’s “happy with the way the SNP is running things for Scotland”. But that doesn’t mean she’s completely happy with the party. In fact, branch politics turned her off going to meetings and she’s scaled back her involvement, a decision she’ll reconsider when indyref2 is called.

Whatever qualms she has, she’s “happy with the SNP having the majority of seats throughout Scotland”.

READ MORE: Top civil servant admits receiving ‘win the war’ text after Salmond’s victory

“There are things I think do split opinion in a big way, but I don’t think it’s to do with the leadership and I don’t think it’s to do with choosing Nicola Sturgeon or Alex Salmond,” she says.

That’s a sentiment Inverclyde woman Elaine MacKenzie shares. “I don’t think most ordinary people are that interested in what’s happening with the Salmond inquiry,” she says. “It is in the news but there’s so much else going on for people to think about on a daily basis – it certainly doesn’t come up in conversation.

“I think the SNP is quite unified. There’s going to be people who do take sides and there are probably rights and wrongs on each of those but I have not really been following it.

“If they’re getting involved in a split, they’re not proper members because we’re all meant to be in it for the same thing. It’s never made me question my membership, it’s never made me question my support for independence.

“I don’t know anyone who has left over it. It’s a distraction.”

But as the enquiry continues, Brexit nears and the spring 2021 election grows closer, the media scrutiny of the SNP and the Scottish Government it runs will only intensify.

After all, it’s the future of the country at stake.

One Glasgow member, speaking off the record and highlighting how the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn rocked the Labour Party this week, has some advice for party colleagues and supporters.

“In ordinary times many of these things would not be stories at all,” she says.

“But having no real opposition makes us complacent at times. We need to make sure we are not like that. We can’t lose the heid at this point.”