Who knew the fell forces of the far right lurked around every corner in Scottish civic life? Since the racist contagion began to move down through northern England towards the Midlands and the south, a host of Scottish politicians and trade union leaders have sought to join in the frenzy of denunciation.

It’s as though, envious at the opportunities for virtue-signalling the riots have presented, their Scottish counterparts are desperate to grab a piece of the action, albeit from a safe distance.

Predictably, the SNP have waded in up to their oxters. Just a few weeks after they were routed in the UK General Election the English riots have provided them with an escape clause. In the last couple of years several events occurring beyond Scotland have provided opportunities for the SNP to shout about something other than Scottish independence, or the deteriorating state of the NHS and the widening education attainment gap on their watch.

First there was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and then the war in Gaza. England’s race riots have given untold dozens of SNP types to proclaim their absolute rejection of the racist, far right and participate in marches and demonstrations. Who are they trying to convince? Yes, we know that - like all other decent people in Scotland - they reject the values of the far-right and their targeting of Muslims. I know we can’t ever be complacent about far-right extremism, but is there a lurking problem they’re not telling us about?

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The former First Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf said he felt so sickened by what’s been going on that he is seriously considering moving his family away from the UK. Presumably, his list of desired locations won’t include those countries in the Middle East that may recoil from some of his stated views on culture and identity.

Glasgow Councillor Graham Campbell called for vigilantes to take up positions around George Square to resist any far-right forces unwise enough to venture into Glasgow city centre. Mr Campbell is the chap who was unceremoniously bundled out of a drug addiction forum by a female activist much smaller than him for trying to hitch his wagon to her cause. I’m not entirely sure that Councillor Campbell could fight sleep let alone bands of itinerant and unpleasant far-right chaps.

In Glasgow city centre on Saturday afternoon a potential powder-keg situation was brewing. You had pro-Palestinian demonstrators yelling increasingly strident anti-Israel propaganda as dozens of Rangers supporters made their way through them to Central Station. There was an anti-racist demonstration unfolding on George Square; a pocket of far-right-looking counter-activists; an Irish republican march. The Friends of Israel tent was present on Buchanan Street, receiving more than its usual number of visitors. Never at any time in the city centre did it threaten to get ugly.

Hopefully, Mr Yousaf now chooses to stay in Scotland and Councillor Campbell tells his artisan citizens' army to stand down. I’m not suggesting that Scotland is always quite the racial Shangri-La we all imagine it to be. It’s just that when there is no evidence that anything similar to England’s racial turbulence was about to occur here our highest-profile politicians have a duty to be careful with their language and not to make something out of nothing. Hopefully, Mr Yousaf will learn from this experience and the police will have a quiet word with Councillor Campbell.

It’s ironic that so many SNP figures are eagerly conveying their disgust at the far-right and its violent language. In the Sturgeon/Yousaf/Swinney era it seems to me that the SNP - more than any other party - has permitted some of the practices of the far-right to take root and flourish.

Like the far right, they are fond of targeting vulnerable groups and individuals whose views don’t align with theirs. Posses of young male activists intimidate and threaten politicians who dare to question the leadership. This was especially evident during Ms Sturgeon’s reign, as former members Chris McEleny and Angus Brendan MacNeil can bear witness to.

In last year’s party leadership contest, senior SNP people participated in a poisonous and insidious campaign against their colleague, Kate Forbes which was designed to humiliate her. It told ordinary Scottish Christians that they weren’t welcome in the SNP unless they were prepared to sign up to a state-approved version of their faith.

SNP Councillor Graham CampbellSNP Councillor Graham Campbell (Image: Newsquest)

In a much more sinister vein, many in the party stood back and watched as dozens of feminists and lesbians within its ranks were subject to a long campaign of hate for daring to oppose Ms Sturgeon’s stated position on gender self-ID. Complaints about this have been gathering dust un-investigated within SNP headquarters for several years. Misogynists who bait feminists and lesbians have known for several years that the leadership will look the other way rather than take steps to remove them.

In the last week or so, many SNP politicians and activists have loudly proclaimed their rejection of the far-right. Yet, the same people remained silent when the tactics and the strategies of the far-right were being used to isolate, marginalise and cancel lifelong female activists with whom they’d once campaigned.

On Saturday afternoon I met one of the former SNP MPs who had lost their seat in last month’s UK General Election. I expressed my fervent hope to them that the party was currently undergoing an authentic period of self-reflection about the real reasons for the SNP’s electoral apocalypse. They assured me that this process was well under way. And that the big questions which needed to be answered were being asked: about why the postal vote appeared to have gone in the opposite direction to the polling-day ballots; about how much the Michael Matheson iPad bill had damaged them and how negative perceptions of the SNP leadership of Glasgow City Council had been raised on many doorsteps before July 4.

These are all valid, but if the SNP’s process of self-examination doesn’t also include questions about why many women don’t feel safe within its confines, then this will be a pointless exercise.

It should also ask what many people across the country are asking: what caused this party to become hollowed out by so many dangerous and unpleasant opportunists? Why had it recently come to harbour sexual predators and why had it continued to do so despite repeated warnings about the conduct of some named individuals? And why were the Scottish Greens allowed to have such a ruinous influence on the party of government?

If these questions aren’t properly addressed, then what happened at the UK election will be repeated at the Holyrood election in 2026.