AT times like this, my mind drifts to the Rorschach test, that fascinating set of ink-stained images that tell us all we need to know about the Scottish Tories.

The Rorschach was a test developed by the Swiss psychologist Hermann ­Rorschach in 1921 to measure our thought disorders and to establish the sad psychological fact that in life, irrespective of the shapes set out in front of us, some people see what they want to see.

Rorschach has been deployed by America as a military personnel test and was most recently popularised in the 1986 graphic novel, the Watchmen, as the code-name of Walter Kovacs, the violent and ruthless vigilante featured in the comic book series.

Kovac’s intimidating mask displays a constantly morphing inkblot which ­disguises his identity and cleverly refers to the key components Rorschach test. It is a test based on inkblots and ­irrespective of the arcane shapes in front of them, some people see in the complexities what they want to see.

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Just for fun, can you think of a ­political party who when asked about climate change, the sustainable economy, the future of higher education in the digital age, the Queensferry Crossing and minimum pricing of alcohol, always give the same answer – “we must stop independence”.

Yes, you’re right the Tories in ­Scotland and Murdo Fraser MSP. This week, ­Murdo could not contain his ­ideological zeal at the opportunities presented during the enquiry into the Scottish Government’s handling of harassment complaints. He had an unwavering premonition that whatever Nicola Sturgeon said, it was proof that she had failed in her duties to parliament and should resign.

No amount of explanation, no ­careful unpicking of complex events and not even admissions of imperfection, were enough for Murdo’s strident certainties. He ­persisted with questioning, to which he knew the final answer, even when he patently didn’t.

Throughout his questioning Fraser pursued huffy and inattentive lines of ­enquiry, which were all magnetically drawn to the same conclusion that Nicola Sturgeon had acted inappropriately, ­broken the ministerial code, and so should resign and walk back along the M8 in a sackcloth.

Whatever the many and varied views of this week’s drama at the committee, the one near unanimous opinion was that the Scottish Tories prematurely ejaculated by pre-judging the outcome. They were patently disinterested in the process of government, the outcomes of a trial at the High Court and the story of the women who pursued former First Minister Alex Salmond. It was all about the imagined endgame, decapitating Nicola Sturgeon and bringing the independence ­movement to its knees.

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Worse still, Murdo Fraser’s single-mindedness exposed a pattern of hypocrisy that seems to be endemic among ­Scottish Tories. They call foul about the inner workings of the SNP whilst effacing or ignoring the flagrant breeches of ministerial practices within their own party and its cavalier behaviour in Westminster, the parliament they adore unconditionally.

To be fair to Murdo, a phrase I rarely use, the vagaries of the De Hondt electoral system have made him briefly relevant to public life. At least he had a role to play in proceedings, unlike the ­shameless Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, who is elected to a political chamber dripping in ministerial failures, and yet breenges around the media, ignoring Priti Patel’s trips to Israel, Boris ­Johnson’s prorogueing of Parliament, Dominic ­Cumming’s trip to Specsavers in Durham and Matt ­Hancock’s chummy procurement ­policies.

Nor is he alone. Dame Ruth Davidson shamelessly chirped up on Channel 4 News too, before leaving blighted ­Scotland for the House of Lords, to ­exchange discourse with Ian Botham and Michelle Mone.

The Tories were so confident that Nicola Sturgeon had let down the ­complainants that it was hardly worth her appearing. Whatever your interpretation of events most people would concur that Sturgeon acted painstakingly – and possibly to a fault – to enable the women’s accusations to see the light of day.

Having demanded a scalp on the eve of the testimony, the Scottish Tories were exposed for wishing for a preferred outcome. As Rorschach would confirm they saw strange shapes and imagined it was the devil again, the Beelzebub of Scottish independence.

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ALTHOUGH Rorschach is essentially designed as a test for schizophrenic mental health it has an in-built lesson for all of us. We live in divided times with binary disputes and so when complex issues surface, it is not unusual to see what we want, irrespective of mounds of evidence to the contrary.

If you want to try all this out for yourself spend five minutes completing the Harrower-Erickson Multiple Choice ­Rorschach Test online. I suspect like me you will see a lot of bats, a few pelvises, and some indescribably opaque ink-spots on the way.

If you are Margaret Mitchell, the ­deputy convener, you may not see bats at all, you may see Geoff Aberdein in Nicola Sturgeon’s front room while Peter Murrell wanders about in his baffies making toast. Hidden among the redacted paperwork, You will see a smoking gun which proves what you always thought, that Sturgeon is unquestionably hiding something. God only knows what, but it must be in there somewhere.

Pity the poor Scottish government transcription service staff that are required to faithfully record Mitchell’s contributions, it made prog-rock albums seem concise.

The Scottish Tories began last week with a belief that they were about to bring down the house. Sadly, for their credibility, they ended the week, exposed as monomaniacs more interested in harming rivals and preserving the status quo than identifying malpractice in either the Scottish parliament or at Westminster.

It was a hubris that rebounded badly on them. Although I was not as convinced as others that Nicola Sturgeon’s performance was flawless, she at least had the common decency to admit that things were imperfect and that she might have contributed to those imperfections.

That was in marked contrast to Alex Salmond’s over-assured rectitude, which came perilously close to victimhood and to Murdo Fraser’s laughably insincere pursuit of a political agenda.

The National:

There are many lessons to be learnt from this unseemly mess. Many branches of Scottish public life need to reflect on their roles and responsibilities. It was not a great week for the civil service, for human resource professionals, for the legal profession and for politicians. Nor did it bring any reassurance to women seeking to bring sexual misconduct at the workplace into the open.

It was not a good week for either Alex Salmond or indeed for Nicola Sturgeon, but curiously it was a rank awful week of the Scottish Tories.

Murdo’s army achieved two outcomes, neither intentionally. They further exposed their own political hypocrisy which is tough on Holyrood but meekly compliant about ministerial failures at Westminster. Even more bizarrely, their rotten game of poker delivered an unexpected surge in SNP membership.

Rorschach could have taught the Tories a simple lesson – do not gaze at complexity and see what you want to see.