How will a John Swinney and Kate Forbes government look?

There followed some gently-lobbed questions from the broadcasters, including this effort from the man from the BBC: “Do you think you can deliver independence?”

What did he think the man seeking to become Scotland’s top nationalist was going to say?

And then amidst softballs something substantial: “Is a transwoman a woman,” he was asked.

“If our politics is defined purely and simply by these questions,” Mr Swinney replied, “I think we’re not addressing the core issues and challenges that face people in society.”

Perhaps so, but “these questions” have contributed to the demise of Scotland’s last two First Ministers. How he deals with these issues will determine define his attempts to re-unify what was once the most stable political organisation in the UK but which lately had come to resemble a Mad Max film.

The SNP were famed for stability - John Swinney will look to restore that after recent turbulence (Image: free)

Events later in the day would confirm that he has effectively become Scotland’s new First Minister by acclamation. Kate Forbes, the only one of his colleagues capable of standing in his way, announced that she would not be running against him. It’s clear that they’d come to an arrangement and that Mr Swinney had sealed it with a billet-doux to Ms Forbes.

Kate is “an intelligent and creative” politician, he said. And then this: she would play a “key role” in his team. A few hours later, Ms Forbes responded in the way that Mr Swinney hoped she would.

“I welcomed, and embrace, his commitment to ensure internal respect for robust and divergent debate in the party, which is the lifeblood of any democratic institution like the SNP.

“I was also greatly heartened by his drive to restore a sense of courtesy and dignity to the way we conduct ourselves as a party and as a Parliament.”

Her response provides the route to calmer waters for Mr Swinney and the SNP. She’s expected to be given a senior cabinet position and there was speculation at Holyrood that she could replace Shona Robison as his deputy.

You would also expect her to seek a junior ministerial role for her biggest political supporter, the former minister for Business and Trade, Ivan McKee.

All that remains to be done is to calm the Scottish Greens before bedtime with hot chocolate and video games when they throw tomorrow’s tantrum.

Later, I asked him what had changed in his relationship with Ms Forbes. After all, he’d been rather disobliging of her during last year’s leadership campaign after she’d publicly upheld her church’s opposition to equal marriage.

“Kate is perfectly entitled to express these views,” he’d said then, “but party members are equally entitled to decide if someone who holds these views would be an appropriate individual to be SNP leader and First Minister.”

Now he said: “Look, Kate and I are over that. I think there was an over-reaction to what I said then. There’s a way through these issues that allows for people of faith – and I am a committed Christian – to be true to their faith and also to our obligation to serve in the best interests of all the Scottish people.”

Significantly, he pointed to Ms Forbes’ backing earlier this week for abortion buffer zones. “That should silence those who have any doubts about a person’s faith influencing their decisions on behalf of the whole country.”

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One MSP suggested that a cynical compromise had been made. “John cannot afford to spend the next two years hidebound by the identity politics that choked Humza,” she said. “Having Kate back inside the tent goes some way to addressing that and her voting for the buffer zones makes it easier for him to put it quietly to bed and to get on with those core issues.”

Cynical or otherwise, it’s the best possible outcome for Mr Swinney. He mentioned ‘change’ almost as often as ‘cohesive’ in his speech. And he firmly batted away the inevitable questions about being yesterday’s man and an unquestioning Sturgeon acolyte.

Mr Yousaf had passed up the opportunity to de-couple from his predecessor’s legacy which hadn’t even lasted beyond the very short first draft of history. The government swelled to nearly 30 ministerial posts in the Sturgeon/Yousaf era, including the two contrived positions for Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie.

It’s an absurdly swollen executive that includes a raft of middle-management positions whose occupants will require gently to be chivvied out. “John has the gravitas to achieve this,” one senior party member told me. “And besides, most of the big beasts in the cabinet were front and centre at his declaration. He’s got their authority.”

Another said: “This is the best possible outcome for the party ahead of what was shaping up to be a challenging Westminster election. Apart from the fact that Kate is respected throughout the country and on both sides of the constitutional divide, it looks like she and John have agreed a concordat which will bring an end to the atmosphere of intimidation that gender-critical women in particular faced from within the party.”

It’s clear too that the Scottish Greens have been put back in their box and that their days of wielding disproportionate influence in and around the Scottish Government are over.

Gone, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater (Image: free)

“The climate emergency is a real and present threat to our society, but we need to recognise that the pursuit of net zero has to take people and business with us,” he said. “When resources are limited, they must be used forensically to make the greatest impact on the challenge we face.”

In less than a week the Greens have been turfed out of government; their two departments no longer exist and Ms Forbes, the politician they loathe above all others, is set to return to the top tier of government.

Mr Swinney also insisted that the majority of Scots wanted their government to be not just in the centre-left of Scottish politics but the ‘moderate’ centre-left. “That is where I stand,” he said.

In a week that marks 25 years of devolution this was perhaps the softest left any of its seven leaders have ever sounded. Mr Swinney indicated he wants to stay on beyond the 2026 Scottish election. If so, he may need to introduce a little more red into the mix.