THERE is usually a sense of occasion to the last FMQs session before an election. Warm words follow sharp jibes and the chamber rings with noisier-than-normal partisan whoops and claps.
This time the chamber was nearly empty, as it has been since the pandemic struck. The MSPs who were in attendance looked shattered. And who can blame them? If a week is a long time in politics then it is surely more like a generation in Scottish political terms.
Last week, nobody could say for certain if Nicola Sturgeon would still be First Minister by the time the final FMQs came around.
One thing that we did know for certain was that Ruth Davidson would use her last few moments as an MSP to ask Nicola Sturgeon about the Scottish Government’s mishandling of sexual harassment complaints against Alex Salmond.
We knew this for certain because that is the only topic that Ruth Davidson has asked about for the last month. We knew it for certain because James Hamilton’s report into whether the First Minister had broken the ministerial code was released this week, as was the Holyrood committee report. The story dominated Scottish politics all week so – of course – Ruth Davidson would ask about it. Why wouldn’t she?
Answers on a postcard please because – ever the maverick – Ruth Davidson decided to ask the First Minister about education instead. I can’t think why.
At some point in the future, Ruth Davidson might plot to remove Douglas Ross as leader, as she did to poor Jackson Carlaw. If she doesn’t, then this is the last time we will see the two old foes sparring.
Nicola Sturgeon clearly didn’t want to waste the opportunity. She took digs at Baroness Davidson for becoming Baroness Davidson.
“Ruth Davidson could have chosen to ask me about education in any one of the previous weeks. Instead, she has chosen to indulge in smears. So I’m actually pleased that Ruth Davidson is back on the issue of education and attainment, in what is her last FMQs before she joins the unelected House of Lords,” she said.
It was a theme Nicola Sturgeon would return to many times – much to the exasperation of Zen Ken Macintosh, who pleaded with the First Minister to stop mentioning the fact that Ruth Davidson was leaving Holyrood to join the House of Lords. Obviously, to do that, he had to mention the-thing-that-must- not-be-mentioned again – to the evident delight of some SNP backbenchers.
Ruth Davidson said the Presiding Officer was “very gallant” to defend her honour[ary peerage] but that it wasn’t necessary. At that point, everybody braced themselves, wondering whether she was going to give the kickboxing/Territorial Army anecdotes one final airing but, thankfully, she didn’t.
Then came the customary tribute to a departing colleague, albeit one that the First Minister delivered with tongue firmly in cheek.
“I genuinely wish Ruth Davidson well. Five years ago she was trying to persuade people that she was the next First Minister. That didn’t quite work out, but I hope she has a happy time in the House of Lords.”
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