SNP's Mhairi Black pledges ‘brutally honest’ look at politics in her first Edinburgh Fringe show

The SNP’s depute Westminster leader has pledged to “pull back the curtain” on her workplace in her first show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Mhairi Black pledged to deliver a “brutally honest” look at politics as she was announced as one of the acts taking to the stage at the Gilded Balloon venue in Edinburgh this summer.

She said: “I’m looking forward to my first Fringe show and think it’ll be a good laugh – spending over 10 years in Westminster means I have plenty of stories to tell and I’m looking forward to pulling back the curtain and revealing a little more about my experiences there.

“Expect a brutally honest look at politics as I embrace my fairly dark sense of humour to reflect on my time there and look ahead to what’s next.”

Black announced last July she will stand down at the next election, saying Westminster is “one of the most unhealthy workplaces you could ever be in”.

While she has never starred in her own show at the Fringe, she appeared last year at an In Conversation With… event hosted by journalist Graeme Spiers.

She told him her decision to stand down as an MP at the next election was a “human decision rather than a political one”, adding: “When I realised that I’ve now spent a third of my life in Westminster, it’s just – it makes my stomach turn.”

Black’s show – Politics Is Not For Me – was one of more than 65 added to the line-up at the Gilded Balloon, including Australian comic Michelle Brasier and TikTok star Christopher Hall.

Karen and Katy Koren, Gilded Balloon artistic directors, said: “It’s so exciting to reveal more of 2024’s Fringe programme – we’re particularly pleased to have such outstanding talented women on the bill from Mhairi Black to Michelle Brasier with a real mix of comedy, politics and real life.”