The arrest of Peter Murrell is an extraordinary and troubling moment in Scotland’s political history.
As part of an ongoing police investigation, little can be said about the allegations the former chief executive of the SNP is facing.
But we know it’s connected to a probe of the funding and finances of Scotland’s governing party. Whatever the outcome of that, the surreal scenes yesterday morning - as cops swooped on the Glasgow home of former first minister and her husband - will have shocked the nation to its core.
This was a dark day for Scottish nationalists and one destined to go down in infamy. And it was a terrible day for our new first minister Humza Yousaf.
There’s no doubt Yousaf wanted the job - but with Sturgeon’s abrupt departure from the stage in February, it is clear he’s also been landed with the in-tray from hell.
After a divisive, bitter leadership campaign against Kate Forbes and Ash Regan, he has been thrown straight into his Bute House baptism of fire, with mounting crises around our NHS, the cost of living and child poverty.
Brutally, since he took the reins, a series of polls have suggested the SNP are in danger of being leapfrogged by Labour and losing swathes of seats to Anas Sarwar’s party.
Those polls were taken before yesterday’s dramatic events which dealt another damaging blow to Yousaf’s party and his government.
Of course, the new first minister, only elected last week, has barely got his feet under the table. He must be allowed time to set his agenda to try to improve the lives of Scots. But the task he faces is unenviable.
There was once a time when the SNP were masters of all they surveyed, untouchable in elections, with leaders who had won a measure of trust from the public. No longer.
The nationalist movement has faced scandals on both personal and policy fronts, from Alex Salmond and Patrick Grady, to the ferries debacle, drug deaths and the furore around transgender rapist Isla Bryson.
This is not a happy party. More importantly for the SNP, this is increasingly not a happy public. Yousaf has a massive job to rebuild the trust lost in his party as, in the last two months, it has fallen into disarray.
He already faces the challenge of convincing the wider population, beyond the membership of the SNP, that he is the man to steer Scotland through the troubled waters our country finds itself in.
Bleak days like yesterday are the last thing he needs.
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