Distraction won't save the SNP from Murrell affair

However, there are two things at which, even I have to recognise, they excel: grievance and distraction. For two decades or more they have beaten the victim drum over the constitution – even though the majority of the people voted against their proposition.

They have distracted from their failures by blaming Westminster, local councils or anyone else they could think of.

But this time, they may have to knuckle down and accept that there is no distraction, no grievance, which will assuage public concern over the proven financial shenanigans which infected the heart of their party structure.

You must take your hat off to the First Minister in his latest attempt to avoid the issue. It was, he asserted, “grubby political point scoring” for his opponents to call for inquiries into what is most gently described as the “Murrell Affair”.

The First Minister is a man for whom respect spreads across the political divide, but he is wrong about this.

There are serious questions to be answered. The SNP may regard the issue as closed. Murrell has after all admitted guilt.

They may even feel that having lost seats in the election the public has already given their own verdict, and sentence, on the scandal.

But that was about so much else. So many other issues that at the last minute they were able to dodge by hiding behind Labour’s woes and Reform’s bluster. An active legal case silenced all comment on the SNP’s financial management and allowed it to be hidden for a period.

But now that we have the guilty plea, and the full astonishing list of what was bought with embezzled funds, this particular stone needs to be lifted. While the SNP may not like what could crawl out, they would be best not to try to stop it.

The First Minister can be sure his opponents will not rest until they know, and the public can be shown, what is under there.

The longer the Government protests the more determined their opponents will become. The more convinced they will be that there is something to hide. Add to that the recent return of the Salmond scandal to the front pages and they could be setting themselves up for trial in the media.

That never ends well. Or for that matter quickly.

History shows that once there is a story out there, no matter how hard a government tries to ignore it, there is little else anyone wants to know or talk about.

What, for example, might we think of this Starmer led government, if when they did talk about achievements in office they could actually be heard through the white noise of scandal and disappointment?

Instead, it's all Mandelson, ministerial resignations, donor freebies and tax problems.

What might the next five years be like for the SNP Government if it is dominated by speculation and challenge.

Especially now First Minister’s Questions is happening twice a week. If they’re not careful, the next time round, they might find that this time distraction from the issues of government is not their friend.

A week is a long time in politics.