John Swinney’s SNP are favourites to secure an outright majority in Scotland come the parliamentary election in May.

A YouGov poll just days ago put them on 67 seats – 65 are needed for a majority. It’s the second poll in a week that has them in the lead. This, in many ways, is remarkable.

When Swinney took over as leader of the SNP, and First Minister of Scotland, in May 2024, the party were in steep decline.

First, Nicola Sturgeon, the popular chief who provided a steady, matriarchal hand through the pandemic, resigned suddenly in February 2023. She became engulfed in a police investigation which led to her now ex-husband Peter Murrell, former chief executive of the SNP, facing a charge of embezzling £495,000 from the party.

Sturgeon’s successor, the likeable Humza Yousuf, proved himself wholly incapable of meeting the demands of high office.

He crashed a power-sharing agreement with the Greens, showing poor political judgement, and lasted little more than a year.

So, into the wreckage stepped Swinney, the old stager, the safe pair of hands, who had held just about every position in the SNP and many offices of state in Scotland including education, finance, deputy first minister, minister for Covid recovery. But he’d been out of the game.

When Sturgeon left, so did he. A keen runner, he took off.

He returned to a party slipping behind a resurgent Labour in the polls, with anger growing at continued perceived failures. Within weeks of taking over, the........

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