Deputy First Minister Shona Robison was delighted to get the senior role in Humza Yousaf’s new-look SNP Government.
How she must wish the questions she is facing now were all about her plans for the job.
Instead, the Dundee politician has been responding to the unfolding crisis in the party now rocked by two high-profile arrests.
On Tuesday, Colin Beattie quit as party treasurer the day after he spoke to police under caution.
All this focus on the governing party at Holyrood must be infuriating for supporters who view the Conservatives at Westminster as the big problem.
How galling it will be to know that Rishi Sunak’s party has been probed for Covid breaches, fined and had to respond to questions about its own financial health.
There have been questions surrounding lobbying and the tax affairs linked to the prime minister.
There was the cavalier approach to taxpayers’ money lavished on wallpaper in Downing Street.
Partygate was a low point in a crowded field of low points.
SNP Westminster chief Stephen Flynn tried to turn the tables yesterday with those elements clearly in mind.
But the prime minister attempted to simply mock his opponent.
In the bear-pit of the Commons, the jeering carries.
Ultimately, this is how it will continue unless Ms Robison really can help the SNP “get its house in order”.
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