Salmond left holding all the aces at end of barely believable day of drama

It didn’t take long for Humza Yousaf’s “leadership” statement to boomerang in a particularly brutal way.

A morning statement in his official residence of Bute House was full of forced smiles, the hope being a new dawn was upon us. The sun does also have a predictable way of setting, too.

In Mr Yousaf ’s case, it all went a bit dark by teatime.

He now faces a genuine challenge to his entire job in government.

A furious, jilted Patrick Harvie confirmed at 5pm that his Green group has no confidence in the FM.

“What on Earth was Humza thinking?” wondered the now exgovernment minister.

It throws up some incredible potential outcomes.

First, if all opposition parties have no confidence but SNP MSPS back their leader, it could come down to one person.

That person? Former SNP minister Ash Regan, who left the party in the first place because of the Greens deal.

And who is behind the scenes of Ms Regan’s new Alba Party? That would be Alex Salmond, the former SNP first minister.

How the wheel turns. The combined opposition is 64. The combined SNP and Alba group is 64.

So, if it does indeed end up in a tie, it would be for the Parliament’s presiding officer to use a casting vote.

Alison Johnstone, in the chair, has no party affiliation and convention dictates she would side with the status quo, saving Mr Yousaf ’s political life.

She wasn’t always independent.

Patrick Harvie knows her well, given she used to colead the Scottish Greens.

Back to Alex Salmond, though. In a frankly remarkable turn of events, the man whose political relevance was destined for the history books is now preparing to pull the strings once more.

His party of one in Holyrood is now expecting boom time for political concessions.

Capping off a memorable day, Mr Salmond quipped: “If I were Humza Yousaf, I’d get drafting a very favourable answer, otherwise he’s going to be known as Humza the Brief.”

“His party of one is now expecting boom time