From funk dancing to the trapeze, how a campaign like no other played out
It was the Holyrood campaign which saw one party leader repeatedly take to an aerial trapeze, inspired another to join in an impromptu funk dance routine in a car park and a third to utilise giant games and chairs as photo shoot props in a trend which many regarded as a Holyrood remake of Honey, I shrunk the Kids.
But while this year’s candidates ramped up the quirk in a covid-era campaign where traditional door knocking and in-person hustings were largely off the menu, the Holyrood election also had its serious side.
Social media played a bigger part in this year’s campaign than ever before, due to social distancing requirements and a campaign conducted predominantly in lockdown.
Even the TV debates, staged in as normal a manner as possible by Scotland’s broadcasters, had a strange atmosphere due to the empty seats where the audience should have been. Meanwhile, media huddles, usually boisterous freefor-alls after photocalls, were hosted on Zoom, with awkward virtual hand raising and unreliable internet connections.
The campaign began as it often does, with a performance by king of the quirky photo shoot, Willie Rennie poster slogan ‘Win with Willie’. Mr Rennie kicked off the Liberal Democrat campaign with a giant deckchair on the beach at South Queensferry, where he sat, legs dangling like a toddler, to announce his plans for education. He soon followed up this stunt with a few games of giant chess and giant Connect Four, sparking comparisons to hit film Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
Scottish Labour also played heavily on new leader Anas Sarwar’s human side - with the highlight possibly his impromptu decision to join in the Saltire Burlesque Academy's open-air dance class in the car park of Livingston FC’S Tony Macaroni Arena. The 38-year-old father of three proved that he could strut his stuff as he performed with the group to Bruno Mars hit Uptown Funk.
Yet for Scottish Labour, the focus of the campaign was clear. Mr Sarwar, who took up his post just a few weeks before the election campaign began, wanted to reestablish the party as a credible opposition.
His party, instead of publishing a manifesto, launched its “Recovery Plan”, focusing heavily on rebuilding Scotland post-covid. He asserted himself as a strong voice working in harmony with – but independent of – Westminster Labour leader Keir Starmer.
"Keir knows I’m the boss”, he told The Scotsman in an interview.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, also relatively new in post, struggled more to establish himself as an autonomous voice distinct to the increasingly unpopular Tory party south of the border.
He came under fire for former leader Ruth Davidson’s prominence in the party’s campaign - she appeared beside him to drum up support in person on many occasions and was the poster girl of the Tories’ campaign leaflets - yet is entirely stepping back from Scottish politics after the election.
He also faced uncomfortable questions when Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had previously said “wild horses” wouldn’t keep him away from the Scottish election campaign, but mysteriously did not show his face north of the border. However, Ross soldiered on, showing grit in the face of what must have been one of his party’s most difficult ever Holyrood campaigns.
Compared to some of their rivals, the SNP managed its campaign in a slightly more sober way, issuing open letters to the people of Scotland and promoting Nicola Sturgeon as an experienced First Minister who could lead Scotland through the recovery from covid.
That didn’t, however, stop Ms Sturgeon from joining forces with former Westminster leader Angus Robertson now standing in the key Edinburgh Central seat - to awkwardly feed some alpacas at a city farm in Edinburgh.
Alex Salmond’s controversial Alba party pursued its campaign in somewhat bumbling style when, at a photoshoot in front of Stirling Castle, the former SNP leader and some of his candidates seemed to have difficulty lining up letters to spell the name of their party. The star of the campaign show for the Scottish Greens was co-leader Lorna Slater, who unexpectedly revealed her love of trapeze after receiving a lesson as a present for her 40th birthday conducting no fewer than two interviews one with The Scotsman’s On the Holyroad video series – while hanging upside down from an aerial support.yet for all of the public fun and games, there was a lot riding on this election campaign.
Threatening to overshadow the vote was the looming possibility of a second independence referendum.
TV debates, especially those in the later stages of the campaign, became heated.
The final debate, screened on the BBC, saw Ms Sturgeon vehemently denying Douglas Ross' claims that she would hold an “illegal wildcat referendum” if Westminster did not agree to a second poll.
Whether or not the SNP manages to win a majority after today’s vote remains to be seen, however, there is no doubt that this has been a campaign like no other.