Now Sir Keir Starmer’s bandwagon has been derailed in spectacular fashion by a litany of broken principles and promises, the chances of Anas Sarwar measuring up for new carpets and curtains in Bute House are receding by the day.

If Winston Churchill was still alive, he would testify that strutting the world stage counts for nothing if the wind of change is against you. The irony is that the screeching reversal of Labour’s fortunes means Scotland faces the doldrums of no change at next year’s Scottish Parliament elections, and at a Holyrood Magazine event on Tuesday night, the usually cautious polling guru Sir John Curtice spoke with some certainty that SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney will still be in charge next May.

It also means a host of SNP wannabes are eyeing up winnable seats, even if there is a sitting MSP in the frame too. In that category is the new Edinburgh North-Eastern & Leith seat, carved out of what was Edinburgh Northern & Leith, where the SNP’s affable and very able Ben McPherson has been the MSP since 2016, and Edinburgh Eastern, currently held by SNP-to-Alba defector Ash Regan who lost out for the leadership of her new party this week.

Mr McPherson is putting himself forward as the SNP candidate for the new seat........

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