Rank outsider is now unlikely power-broker

WHEN the SNP leadership contest began at the start of the month, Ash Regan blundered into the spotlight with a badly thought-through set of policies and an even worse range of gimmicks.

She wanted an independence thermometer so the public could track progress towards the sunlit uplands of a free Scotland.

And she claimed that this new nation would be able to introduce its own currency within weeks.

No one, including her two rivals, took her seriously.

Regan also complained about the way the election was being organised to favour the old guard’s chosen candidate, Humza Yousaf. At first it sounded like the pre-emptive moans of a bad loser.

When she asked for independent overseers to supervise the voting process, others in the party called her “Trumpian”.

But unlike the giant orange babyman who refused to leave the White House, it turns out Regan was right.

When she and fellow candidate Kate Forbes asked SNP chief executive Peter Murrell exactly how many members would be voting, the party unravelled.

Regan pulled at a few loose strings and the old regime came apart in front of our eyes. Turns out the SNP has lost more than 30,000 members over the last two years. Murrell, also known as Mr Sturgeon, has resigned along with the party’s top spin doctor behind the scenes.

Thanks to the candidate who started off as a laughable outsider, the contest is now all about how the party is run, who runs it and whether this leadership election is worth the paper the ballots are printed on.

Regan is not going to win. At first she wanted folk who recently left the party to get a vote, then members who had already voted to be able to change their minds. Nae chance.

But she is no longer the crazy lady who thinks we will be spending a Scottish currency some time very soon.

Regan has made the establishment candidate, Yousaf, look weak and underwhelming, needing Mummy and Daddy’s help behind the scenes to keep his campaign going.

Pointing out the problems with the party’s internal machinery has boosted Forbes’ argument that continuity means mediocrity. Her calls for a reset can now include a rethink of how the party is organised.

Most people who vote for Regan will pick Forbes as their second preference. The rank outsider has become the unlikely power broker who could decide who leads Scotland.