Humza Yousaf will have two of the toughest jobs in Scottish politics when he is sworn in as First Minister.
As head of the Government, he will have to deal with the hellish in-tray of domestic policy nightmares that await his Cabinet.
But just as problematic will be his inheritance of a divided party and fractious independence movement.
Nearly 48 per cent of SNP members backed Kate Forbes, who trashed Yousaf’s record in government and ran on a year zero reset.
Over 20,000 members did not want him in charge and a sizeable group of unsympathetic MSPs will seek to frustrate him.
Salmond won by a landslide in 2004 and Sturgeon took over ten years later unopposed.
Yousaf, by contrast, sneaked home on Ash Regan’s second preferences and crawled over the finishing line.
One of his biggest challenges at a party level will be dealing with the impatience of independence supporters.
Many of them want a referendum immediately or a commitment to turn every election into a de facto vote on leaving the UK. They want a plan. Now.
But everything Yousaf said during the campaign suggests he is ready to play a much longer game.
His promise to kickstart a “grassroots, civic-led movement” will sound to his critics like a recipe for kicking independence into the long grass.
His criticism of Sturgeon’s focus on “process” means he is unlikely to appease the pro-indy hardcore with empty dates on phantom referendums.
And talk of building a progressive vision on an independent Scotland sounds like something that requires a commission or a steering group.
Yousaf, in his heart, knows the difficulties in steering a path towards independence.
The only route to independence is through a referendum and the only path to indyref2 is via a joint agreement with Westminster.
But with the Tories and Labour both rejecting a deal the route is blocked and no obvious alternative presents itself.
A so-called ‘independence election’ may gee up the troops, but even if successful it would only lead to Yousaf standing outside Downing Street demanding Rishi Sunak open the door.
Yousaf faces the challenge of having to tell an inconvenient truth to a movement that wants easy answers rather than forging a long-term strategy.
His reference in his victory speech to the late Labour leader John Smith proves he knows that reaching out, not looking inwards, is the only way of building support for independence.
Under Yousaf’s leadership, it is not difficult to imagine more SNP members drifting away or joining Alex Salmond’s Alba.
In six months, his critics will ask: “Where is the progress?”
Salmond’s sour response to Yousaf’s narrow victory is a sign of the new SNP leader’s weakness.
“Humza has been elected on a minority of the vote to leadership of one part of the National Movement. He has a big job on to reunite his party and the cause,” the former First Minister said.
The SNP is flagging at the same time as Labour is gaining momentum and looking like a potential Government again.
The next general election looks difficult for Yousaf and a particularly bad night could see his party enforce a ‘one strike and you’re out’ policy.
An essential part of restoring internal SNP unity would be Forbes accepting a senior position in his Government.
Relations between the pair are poor - Yousaf allies refer to her as “equivo-kate” over perceived evasions on abortion and buffer zones - and bitterness remains.
Bringing her into his big tent would be an achievement and buy him time to restore party unity.
Reforming the party’s outdated internal governance is another must for Yousaf.
SNP and pro-indy circles are awash with baseless rumours of the election being rigged and unsafe.
Such misinformation was fuelled by the avoidable row over membership numbers that led to the resignation of Peter Murrell as chief executive.
A live police investigation into SNP finances only fuels the conspiracy theories.
Bringing in an independence auditor to carry out a publishable review of SNP finances would be a wise move by the new SNP leader.
The Salmond and Sturgeon eras were marked by the sort of internal discipline and unity other parties admired.
Divisions did exist - and came to the fore in Sturgeon’s last few months - but they were largely kept behind closed doors.
Yousaf will have no honeymoon period and his foes will cause him trouble from day one.
He has to stamp his authority on his divided party otherwise he could end up getting swallowed whole by his critics.
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