A government, that was undermined by itself, is inching towards election

Humza Yousaf starts this week in a position light years away from where he expected to be.

Taken at his word, he should be firming up his new policy position and pulling a united minority SNP group behind him.

A Green party unhitched from government, but onside where it matters, would be there to provide the cover where needed.

Instead, he appears cut off from the left and right of his own group.

He has totally humiliated his former Green colleagues.

And he seems to have been caught on the hop by opposition leaders who may well have put Holyrood on a collision course with an early Scottish election.

A few points have become clear in the past four days.

First, Alba’s Alex Salmond is determined to seize the opportunity with airtime and political interventions.

But the actual heft of one Alba MSP as a bargaining tool is not as strong as some would like to think.

Going with Alba to save his skin would in fact alienate SNP members who long ago fell out with Mr Salmond, whatever the shared view is on independence.

But Mr Yousaf has also alienated the Greens, which leaves some in his group equally scunnered.

So forget the side show, it’s the SNP group that matters now.

If Mr Yousaf cannot find a majority out of thin air to win the confidence vote, he will have a painful choice to make: carry on like it didn’t matter, or cave.

If he is to cave, we’re looking at a leadership contest. Again.

That’s why phones are buzzing in quiet corners while factions form around successors.

But with scant evidence of any actual succession planning (see what happened when Nicola Sturgeon quit for evidence) whoever wins will have the same problem as Mr Yousaf.

Could Kate Forbes ever get the Greens onside?

She managed in budget negotiations, but that was then.

It might be some Greens quietly help Mr Yousaf in order to stop that happening at all.

Mid Fife and Glenrothes MSP Jenny Gilruth, the education secretary, might be welcomed by Greens.

But why would the other wing of the SNP be in any way happy to wind the clock back with them again?

It just keeps pointing to a government undermined by itself, inching towards an election a lot sooner than planned.

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Carry on like it didn’t matter, or cave

Yousaf and Forbes during last year’s leadership election.