Being an affable sort of chiel who never bears grudges, I was happy to impart some advice to Stephen Flynn towards the end of last year when we caught up for a one-to-one interview. These days, I’ve got more in common with The Royal Company of Archers than with the political confidence trick the SNP has become. However, Mr Flynn had struck me as a smart operator who seemed to grasp what ails this sick party.

What’s more, he knew who among them were chiefly responsible for destroying any prospect of Scottish independence in the foreseeable future. These chancers had exploited the trust of the wider Yes movement as a means of making the sort of money miles beyond what their modest skill-set could command in the real world.

After the formal part of our interview, I suggested to him that he should seek a Holyrood seat and start thinking about leading his broken party. I can only report though, that he disagreed with much of my analysis and expressed loyalty and solidarity with people I knew would undermine him without a moment’s thought. In recent weeks though, it’s clear that others have been telling him what I did.

It was clear - even then - that the SNP would lose a considerable number of seats at the next Westminster election (though none of us could have foreseen the extent of the apocalypse). As such, I felt it was imperative that he should find a way to stand for Holyrood in 2026, even though there was a decent chance that the SNP would be turfed out of government.

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I felt then (and still do) that temporarily occupying both a Westminster seat and a Holyrood seat shouldn’t be an issue, especially if - like Alex Salmond - he donated his Westminster salary to charity. After all, the party hadn’t ever previously had a problem with this. It had only changed the rules as part of a wider campaign of intimidation and bullying to prevent Joanna Cherry doing the same. Nothing about it was driven by ethics.

I also suggested to Mr Flynn that after 2026, the SNP would likely require a new leader and that he would have a decent chance of succeeding John Swinney in the role. Kate Forbes (my favoured candidate) would also surely have an interest in becoming leader, though I felt that she might have been too bruised by the vindictiveness and disloyalty she had faced in last year’s leadership election to go through it all again. However, I was sure that a deal could be cut with Ms Forbes, the outstanding intellect of the Holyrood SNP group. Let’s be honest here though: Tinky-Winky could be considered a political savant compared with many in the SNP’s Holyrood contingent.

Ms Forbes would be Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary, the job she should have been given if Humza Yousaf hadn’t been so spineless. The entire payroll advisory comprising the Matalan brigade of imps and hobgoblins should be routed and the NEC emptied of the Sturgeonite lickspittles who had hollowed it out. The Scottish Greens should be kept out of government by any means necessary.

A way should also be found to have Joanna Cherry in Holyrood and for her to become Justice Secretary. Failing that, she should be appointed Lord Advocate. I should make it clear here that Mr Flynn expressed no desire to become leader. Why should he have? He has youth - and therefore time - on his side. Those who claim to be squeamish about the civil strife that seems to have engulfed the SNP since Mr Flynn announced he was seeking his party’s Holyrood endorsement are kidding themselves. Such is the shambles that the SNP has become in the last five years that only a prolonged period of bloodletting and aggravation will clear out those who have damaged it - and the prospect of Scottish independence - from within.

Joanna CherryJoanna Cherry (Image: PA)

There have been many ugly illustrations of the SNP’s tenure since Alex Salmond’s resignation as leader. Not the least of these were the regular houndings of those who incurred the displeasure of Nicola Sturgeon. They went after people of proven ability and significant intellect like Ms Cherry and Joan McAlpine and were prepared to bend rules to destroy their targets.

Last week, Ms Cherry revealed the identity of some who were detailed to undermine her when she had helped defeat Boris Johnson’s effort to prorogue Parliament. In the last 10 years, this was the only noteworthy feat ever achieved by the SNP’s Westminster group. Yet, such was their spite towards Ms Cherry that rather than celebrate a rare success, they chose to come after her.

Their malice towards her is matched only by their contempt for the people of Scotland. They have decided that the voters should only ever have access to information about their conduct on a strict need-to-know basis and that the less we know the better. They go to great lengths to conceal information that their own public officials have said should be in the public domain. Those who have been most vociferous in their criticism of Stephen Flynn in recent days embody the rot that has settled in the SNP. They are in panic mode right now. They know how Mr Flynn removed Ian Blackford at Westminster and so they know that if he were ever to become party leader their years of taking Yes voters for a ride would be over.

Others who have suddenly become squeamish about old-fashioned political manoeuvring are asking the wrong questions. They should be asking who might have been encouraging Mr Flynn to go to Holyrood and why. The party’s grassroots have been exploited and deceived for long enough. They know that only a root-and-branch change at every level of this absurdly dysfunctional and morally bankrupt psycho-party will repair the damage.

When the Scottish Parliament was reconvened in 1999, the Scottish public expected that its elected members would represent only the best of us. Instead, too many in our governing party have come to represent the worst of us: cowardly, deceitful, inarticulate, furtive and malevolent. It’s from this cohort that most of the criticism of Mr Flynn has emerged. This should tell you everything.

Kevin McKenna is a Herald writer and columnist. Among his paltry list of professional achievements is that he’s never been on the payroll of any political party or lobbying firm.