In 2014, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s newly elected First Minister, appeared in front of 12,000 supporters at the Hydro arena in Glasgow.
She was greeted with the same level of hysteria and adoration as all the global pop superstars who had previously graced the main stage.
It was a remarkable moment.
The Yes campaign had just lost the referendum and its figurehead, Alex Salmond, had bid his farewells.
The SNP should have been in a state of mourning. But as the crowd cheered the new First Minister and screamed her name, they looked like a party that was ready for, well, a party.
Given the turmoil and discord of the last few weeks, I think we can safely rule out a similar honeymoon period for our next SNP First Minister.
The new leader hasn’t even been chosen yet. But we’re already seeing a distinctly gloomy ‘end of the night’ vibe to the contest.
The excesses of the evening have taken their toll and now it’s time to clear up.
The empties must be gathered and the maudlin drunks scooped up and put into a taxi.
SNP leadership candidates have little in common beyond independence
It’s hardly been a carnival of democracy so far but that’s no great surprise.
The SNP – and the leadership hopefuls themselves – weren’t prepared for it.
Nicola Sturgeon’s departure has exposed existing party fractures, as well as the limits of a ‘broad church’ party held together by one over-arching aim.
Aside from a desire to see Scotland gain her independence, there seems to be little else that links the three leadership hopefuls.
And the SNP’s broad coalition seems to be in danger of at least a partial collapse.
After Kate Forbes’ mammoth media round last week, where she said – among other things – that she believed that marriage should only be between a man and a woman and that having children outside of marriage is wrong, SNP activists on Twitter proclaimed that her leadership bid was over.
Predictions were made that she would imminently withdraw from the contest, as anger over her comments grew.
That didn’t happen. A recent poll showed Forbes is the favourite with the wider electorate. And she must believe that she has sufficient support within her own party to make carrying on worth it.
Social media is not representative of real life and it’s not representative of political parties either.
Those who hope that Kate Forbes and her views will be roundly rejected by SNP party members might be in for a shock when the votes are counted.
Public expect better from SNP leadership hopefuls
Most leadership candidates go into their respective contests promising to be a ‘unifier’ but few manage to achieve it.
As the SNP finds itself in the grip of an identity crisis, do Kate Forbes, Humza Yousaf or Ash Regan really have a chance of bringing the party back together again?
It doesn’t look likely.
A recurring criticism of Nicola Sturgeon – from inside and outside her party – was that she was prone to control-freakery and didn’t tolerate dissent.
Be careful what you wish for etcetera etcetera…
Next week, STV will host the first TV leaders’ debate of the contest so far.
It will be chaired by the channel’s formidable but fair political editor Colin Mackay.
It is sure to be a bruising experience for the three candidates.
The internal squabbles and depressing debates over hard-won rights like same sex marriage have left little room for anything else.
But the public deserve to know how each plans to tackle NHS waiting times, the drugs death crisis, and Scotland’s shameful child poverty rates.
Candidates should remember that winning the support of their party is the easy part. It’s the wider electorate that they really have to convince.
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