Swinney inheriting a spectacular mess

THE shabby stitch-up to put John Swinney in Bute House was supposed to signal a fresh start for the SNP – but his reign is already mired in chaos before it has begun.

A poll shows his fractured party is on track to plunge to just 15 seats in the general election – and fall behind Labour at Holyrood.

It is still at the centre of an ongoing police fraud inquiry which has seen former chief executive Peter Murrell charged in connection with alleged embezzlement of SNP funds.

And the presumptive First Minister yesteday faced a potential obstacle to his rapid approval as First Minister – in the shape of an unexpected leadership challenger.

Veteran SNP activist Graham McCormick, who is openly critical of the SNP Government, had been attempting to collect enough signatures to stand against Mr Swinney.

It may have posed a threat to the Nationalists’ hope that a bruising contest could be avoided – but last night Mr McCormick pulled out of the running.

Mr Swinney has signalled that he will ditch plans to declare a mandate for separation if the SNP wins a majority of Scottish seats in the Commons. But he has said he wants to boost backing for separatism – a time-wasting exercise given that there is zero chance of a second referendum.

The last thing SNP hierarchs want is a fresh bout of internecine warfare, but their plan of a seamless transition to a new era under Mr Swinney may be coming off the rails.

He said yesterday that the SNP had endured a ‘rough couple of years’ – something of an understatement – but blamed a ‘perception’ that it is ‘not cohesive’.

In fact, the party has been torn apart by bitter in-fighting after Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation last year – and the recent defenestration of Humza Yousaf.

With his head in the sand, Mr Swinney can’t hope to reunite these warring factions – or, far more importantly, restore public trust in a failing administration.

Pressed back into action after a spell on the backbenches, Mr Swinney will inherit a mess of spectacular proportions.

Assuming he is appointed First Minister, he will quickly discover there is no longer any hiding place from his party’s long record of failure and incompetence.