Being an affable sort of chiel who never bears grudges, I was happy to impart some advice to Stephen Flynn towards the end of last year when we caught up for a one-to-one interview. These days, I’ve got more in common with The Royal Company of Archers than with the political confidence trick the SNP has become. However, Mr Flynn had struck me as a smart operator who seemed to grasp what ails this sick party.
What’s more, he knew who among them were chiefly responsible for destroying any prospect of Scottish independence in the foreseeable future. These chancers had exploited the trust of the wider Yes movement as a means of making the sort of money miles beyond what their modest skill-set could command in the real world . After the formal part of our interview, I suggested to him that he should seek a Holyrood seat and start thinking about leading his broken party.
I can only report though, that he disagreed with much of my analysis and expressed loyalty and solidarity with people I knew would undermine him without a moment’s thought. In recent weeks though, it’s clear that others have been telling him what I did. It was clear - even then - that the SNP would lose a considerable number of seats at the next Westminster election (though none of us could have foreseen the extent of the apocalypse).
As such, I felt it was imperative that he should find a way to stand for Holyrood in 2026, even though there was a decent chance that the SNP would be turfed out of government.