Legions of politicians are again taking to the stage at the Fringe this year. And it’s fair to say it’s not a universally popular idea, with heckling voices yelling out this week on radio phone-ins and in print media columns, questioning whether the world’s greatest theatre festival should be festooned with those (normally) charged with saving us from foreign enemies, financial disasters – and sometimes ourselves.

Our legislators, it’s argued, should be focused instead on new legislation, forming strategies, not in taking part in cosy chats in front of fanboy/girl audiences, all the time trying hard to convince us they’re reeking with charisma and capable of revealing a cheeky sense (of previously unseen) humour.

Political rivals certainly hate these performance pieces. We’ve heard Scottish Secretary Ian Murray blast the SNP ministers who have been ‘grandstanding’ at the Fringe, the likes of emboldened John Swinney who chose the occasion to megaphone the word ‘genocide’ into the ears of his supporters. And doesn’t Rachel Reeves’ Fringe statement about Jeremy Corbyn – suggesting he’s panto villain evil – also reveal so much about yet another politician who comes over all gallus when behind the cover of a proscenium arch?

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