SNP Leadership contest 2004

'Labour women have never shown much hesitation in patronising and verbally abusing SNP women.' Iain Macwhirter in the Sunday Herald, 5 th September 2004.

Back on the leaderboard

By Iain Macwhirter in the Sunday Herald, 5 th September 2004

Holyrood commentary: Alex Salmond's coronation may herald a Nationalist revival, but will it reinvigorate Scottish politics?

'Well folks, it's good to be back,' said Alex Salmond after his massive victory in the SNP leadership race. But will Salmond's second coming make any difference? It's still the same party after all, and the SNP is in deep trouble after three national election setbacks. Can one man, however combative, revive a movement?

Well, anyone who still thinks personality isn't important in politics should have been in the Dynamic Earth centre in Edinburgh on Friday morning. The atmosphere at the SNP leadership conference was electric, not least because of the power cables and cameras littering the floor. Photographers jostled and scrimmaged. The press were excited, the SNP staff were excited, even John Swinney was excited - which is pretty remarkable since he'd only recently been dumped as leader.

Salmond is box office in a way John Swinney could never be. He is an immensely gifted politician, even if he does know it. On Friday he accepted a post he had promised, only two months ago, to resign from if he were nominated for it. Only someone with a titanium ego and titanic chutzpah could have got away with it. But he did.

The triumphalism was infectious. It was beginning to feel a little like the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum all over again: Yes to Salmond by nearly three quarters of the vote, and Yes to his running mate Nicola Sturgeon by well over half. So much for Sturgeon not being liked in the SNP.

But it'll take more than a retread leader and an over-priced building to reignite popular enthusiasm for devolution, and raise the Scottish parliament's game. Especially since the SNP leader will not be sitting in it. There seems little chance of Alex Salmond returning to the Scottish parliament before 2007 - and even then, he might find that his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, will be sitting rather comfortably in his place.

Of course, the job of Scottish parliamentary leader will be anything but comfortable at first. The day after tomorrow , when the parliament meets for its first great debate in the new Holyrood building, Nicola Sturgeon will be in for a roasting from Labour MSPs. First question: 'When is the SNP monkey next planning to meet the organ grinder?'

There will be catcalls and cries of 'London calling', 'phone a friend'. Jack McConnell will no doubt say that the SNP leader is treating the Scottish parliament with contempt by having a 'Notting Hill nationalist' as leader behaving like 'an absentee landlord'. And he'll only be quoting SNP leadership candidates during the campaign.

In truth, it will be a hard job for Nicola Sturgeon to speak with authority when she has to defer to a higher authority in London. There is going to be a real problem of communication and co-ordination. Eventually, the jeers will die down, and when they do, McConnell may find Nicola Sturgeon to be quite a handful. She is a fleet-footed debater with a line in withering put-downs and very sharp teeth, as others in her party can testify. She says she will expose the 'mind-numbing mediocrity' of the Scottish Executive, and she may have ample opportunity so to do.

Moreover she's a woman. 'I look better than he does in a skirt,' Sturgeon remarked in her victory speech. But she won't just be giving McConnell advice on what not to wear. The fact that Jack McConnell is dealing with a female will alter the dynamics of First Minister's Question Time. It will be more difficult for McConnell to play the boy's-game politics of insults and put downs . Then again, Labour women have never shown much hesitation in patronising and verbally abusing SNP women.

Was there an air of unreality about it all on Friday? Of course. The SNP has taken a desperate move because it is in a desperate situation. Alex Salmond promises to win the 2007 election, but as a betting man, I doubt if he would favour the odds.

Salmond has promised a clean slate. Campbell Martin, the expelled MSP, may find the door open for his return. But not everyone might be happy to come back. I bumped into the former SNP MSP Margo MacDonald - still the best-known nationalist after Sean Connery - trying to negotiate her way around the concrete maze that is the new Scottish parliament building. While she didn't actually rule out to the fold, she hasn't changed her views on her former leader's failings.

So, the troubles in the nationalist movement will not be solved overnight. Salmond says that his party's 'unique selling point' is independence, but right now it looks like a loss leader. Scottish voters have to be persuaded that further constitutional change will improve the governance of Scotland. They aren't impressed by the performance of the parliament they've already got.

So, it looks as if Scotland has an opposition again as well as a new parliament. Does it have an alternative government? Not yet. But a politician of real substance has returned to the front line. And two out of three isn't bad.