Former BBC Scotland political editor Brian Taylor has taken on the Scottish party leader ahead of the election. 

All episodes of The Brian Taylor Podcast's special leader's edition are now available on all your favourite streaming platforms -  and they will not disappoint.

Here are some of the best moments of the leader's episodes. 

Douglas Ross 

Why was Jackson Carlaw ousted?

Brian Taylor: "Why was Jackson Carlaw ousted from the leadership? What was going wrong?"

Douglas Ross: "Well, Jackson Carlaw took the decision. It was over the summer, he reflected and he decided to step back from frontline politics."

Brian Taylor: "Come on, he was given a pretty hefty shove. For goodness sake. No. You say, I've been covering a few elections."

"Don't try that on, for goodness sake. He was given a gentle or not so gentle shove, wasn't he?

Douglas Ross: "Well, you know, you have to go back to what Jackson said at the time. And he reflected on his own time as leader and thought it was an opportunity at that stage to allow the party to elect a new leader that I'm delighted Jackson is standing for Eastwood again. He's been an excellent constituency MSP there, and I'm sure that people of Eastwood will welcome him again."

READ MORE: The Brian Taylor Podcast: Five exchanges with Douglas Ross

Patrick Harvie 

'Leaving it in the ground leaves 100,000 jobs at risk'

Brian Taylor: "Your rivals, including the current First Minister from the SNP are saying you have to have a transition period because the extent of the investment, the extent of the return, the extent of the employment is so huge in the North Sea. You are talking about 'leave it in the ground' but leaving it in the ground leaves 100,000 jobs at risk. 

Patrick Harvie: "The non-negotiable aspect of this is the science of how much carbon can we afford to emit and how much oil and gas can we afford to use.

"That is the non-negotiable part. Around that, we have to develop our economic response and the science tells us very clearly, we have far more oil and gas in existing in known reserves than we can ever afford to use. At least three times as much.  If you don't have a programme that says we are going to stop exploration/ If you don't have a programme that says we are going to have a reasonable time frame for ending this industry,  then you are never going to have, not just a future economy, but a viable life support system for our species and every species around us. 

Brian Taylor: "But you are not talking about a reasonable time frame. You are saying leave it in the ground. You are saying call a halt to exploration and extraction." 

Patrick Harvie: "Yes, that is what a reasonable time frame is." 

Brian Taylor: How long is that reasonable time frame? How long until we have 100,000 jobs gone?" 

Patrick Harvie: "When you are facing the potential end of your own civilisation and every other species on the planet.

"Reasonable does not mean reasonably slow, it means reasonably quick. It means within the time scale that nature allows." 

Alex Salmond 

Unrequited love for the SNP and Sturgeon 

Brian Taylor:  "You say you love the SNP from your history in it, that doesn't seem to be reciprocated by the current leadership. Nicola Sturgeon says she wants nothing to do with you or your party, what is your opinion of Nicola Sturgeon." 

Alex Salmond: "There are many times in life where love goes unrequited, Brian. I'm sure you and the rest of us may well have experienced that in your life. Perhaps, politically this is just one of those occasions." 

Willie Rennie 

Covid-19 recovery first

Brian Taylor: "What what slips down the queue if recovery is being put first?"

Willie Rennie: "The constitutional debate, and essentially independence. And because the SNP I think if we were honest, their slogan would be put independence first. Ours is put recovery first."

Brian Taylor: "I think they would say it's put recovery first, first, second, and third and the independence they get to it, when it when it comes I'm sure they would say that I'm sure they will say that, when I do the podcast with the SNP."

Willie Rennie: "In this five-year term, they have said, It shifts around from time to time, but they have said independence will be our priority. And we know that independence is all-consuming.

"We remember the parliament between 2011 and 16. It was consumed by independence for years on end. We've seen with Brexit, how all-consuming it still is, you've seen in Northern Ireland, just in the last fortnight, how challenging the consequences of these big constitutional changes are, there's no doubt it will swamp everything. There will be no space to do anything else."

Anas Sarwar

'We are living in rainy days'

Anas Sarwar: "As a principle, I favour more progressive taxation. We have to look at timing and we have to look at approach and I think we have  billions of pound available that we should be spending in the first instance to do all of the thing we want to do." 

Brian Taylor: "That's money saved for a rainy day if you spend that you don't have the reserves if there are still worse times ahead." 

Anas Sarwar: "Brian, what rainy day are we waiting for? We are living in rainy days. We are in the midst of the rainy days. We are not in a period of sunshine and let's fix the roof while the sun is shining. We are in the midst of a national emergence and crisis. So, if we have billions of pounds of unallocated money - if we are not going to spend it now to focus on national recovery - what are we waiting for?"

Keith Brown 

Calls for a four-nation inquiry into the Covid response

Brian Taylor: "It can also be said that ministers in Scotland, the government in Scotland, officials in Scotland might escape closer scrutiny if [an inquiry into the Covid-19 response] is on a four-nation basis. If it's UK wide. If it's broader than perhaps, you know, frankly, the worries and the problems in Scotland will slip under the radar a bit."

Keith Brown: "I have every confidence in, well I was going to say the opposition parties, but certainly in the media, to make sure the Scottish Government's put under sufficient scrutiny. And if the inquiry is constructed in the right way, with the right people, then there should be no hiding place, there should be a full inquiry into every aspect of it. And I have no doubt that adequate scrutiny will be placed on Scottish ministers, whatever the nature of the inquiry is -"

Brian Taylor: "And it's not a way of skipping, dodging scrutiny?"

Keith Brown: "Absolutely not, it wouldn't be possible to do that. If somebody can point out to me that we're willing to be involved in an inquiry across the four nations of the UK, that's going to allow you to hide away. I just don't see that at all. But if they don't do that, and if it was the intention to train, hate them something, why would we commit to having our own inquiry and the absence of that four-nation inquiry?"

READ MORE: SNP deputy admits ‘selfish’ campaign reasons for wanting pandemic over