On a clammy Edinburgh afternoon, the corridors of the Scottish Parliament felt airless. Encased in jagged panels of timber and granite, oak lattices framing its windows, this building was meant to be a symbol of modernity and openness: a New Labour-devolved dreamscape. Inside, it was gloomy and tense. News crews hovered and aides shuffled around rumpled and pale.
SNP politicians, who have governed here since 2007, are under criminal investigation over £600,000 worth of donor money. Senior figures have been arrested. Their dear leader, the electorally untouchable Nicola Sturgeon, resigned abruptly in February after eight years in the role. Following a miserable leadership election, which included a debate on sex before marriage and use of the word “neverendum”, her former health secretary Humza Yousaf triumphed. As First Minister he has looked ever more startled.
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