Can Swinney handle poisoned chalice he inherited with SNP’s future at stake?

John Swinney has become leader of the SNP after nominations closed yesterday without anybody else putting themselves forward for the role. A coronation then, not a contest. After their recent bout of decidedly Tory internal chaos, the SNP has decided what they need now is a period of calm. A leadership contest would have exposed old wounds and given new life to those more recent ones which brought about the downfall of Humza Yousaf.

Swinney’s first test as SNP leader will be to secure the backing of parliament in a vote to become first minister. This is one he is expected to pass, with the support of the Greens. While some within the party will be frustrated they didn’t get a chance to vote on their next leader, many will be relieved to see Swinney at the helm.

He is a man with extensive experience in the highest levels of government and within the SNP itself. As a former leader of the SNP and a former deputy first minister, he will be uniquely placed to hit the ground running.

The party stalwart won’t need an orientation session or a period to settle into his new role. As Nicola Sturgeon’s former right-hand man, he already knows the ins and outs of the job. The last week has been a real-time demonstration of his political experience.

He was deft in his manoeuvres, managing to bring his biggest threat, former leadership challenger Kate Forbes, into the Swinney fold. At the launch of his leadership bid, he spoke a message of unity, promising to work collaboratively to bring the divided party back together again.

He pledged to give Kate Forbes a highprofile role in his Cabinet and she offered him her support. He also managed to stave off a move from the grassroots which would have forced a leadership election.

Graeme McCormick had gathered enough signatures for a leadership nomination but decided not to continue with his bid after a “lengthy and fruitful’’ discussion with Swinney.

The new SNP leader not only neutralised the threat, he managed to secure McCormick’s support, too.

The ability to persuade others is one of the core skills that a politician needs. Over the last decade, it has gone out of fashion.

We now judge our politicians not on their ability to convince others of their position, but on how vociferously they trash their opponents.

As the leader of a minority government, Swinney will have to rely on his powers of persuasion to get legislation through. He will have to work in the very way that the Scottish Parliament was set up to encourage. In this, his political opponents may come to regret their success in forcing Yousaf out of office.

There is no doubt Swinney has inherited a poisoned chalice. The problems that Yousaf faced haven’t miraculously vanished with him.

Swinney will now be responsible – and accountable for – the pressures on the NHS, falling living standards and the drug deaths crisis, to name just a few.

There is also the small matter of achieving his party’s stated aim of independence for Scotland.

But when it comes down to it, Douglas Ross and Anas Sarwar would much rather be squaring off against Yousaf on those issues than Swinney.

Where Yousaf sometimes seemed overwhelmed by the scale of the challenges he inherited from Sturgeon, Swinney has been around the block a few times.

He is much better placed to see beyond the bad headlines, rather than being consumed by them. His critics say he is too close to the old guard of the SNP, in particular Sturgeon, to be able to meaningfully implement real change.

Time will tell on that front, but in the short term at least, his opponents might wonder whether it was the smartest move to switch out Yousaf for somebody of Swinney’s experience and ability.

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At the weekend, my boyfriend promised us a gentle walk up an easy hill.

However, as we approached the bottom of Ben A’an to begin our stroll, I strongly suspected I had been hoodwinked.

We were accompanied on the walk by a duo of reluctant ramblers, in the form of my 10-year-old daughter and seven-monthold puppy.

Neither seemed particularly enthused by the journey ahead.

My boyfriend was responsible for stopping the dog from jumping off the rocky terrain and I was responsible for cajoling my daughter up it.

Motivational speeches were offered and eye-rolls were given in return. The ascent to the summit was in parts more akin to rock climbing than walking. Many fellow walkers who saw my daughter and I struggling gave us words of encouragement. It must have been patently obvious that this was not our natural habitat.

Finally, we reached the top and we enjoyed a brief picnic that was only occasionally interrupted by the puppy trying to make a deadly bid for freedom.

A lovely time was eventually had by all, but I will be googling all my boyfriend’s walking route suggestions before agreeing to them in the future.

His critics say he is too close to the old guard of the SNP

Kirsty Strickland

BAPTISM OF FIRE: Newly elected SNP leader John Swinney delivers his acceptance speech in Glasgow yesterday.