THE first FMQs of a new parliament is always worth a watch. The others? Not so much. But the first one definitely deserves your attention.
Yesterday’s session had it all: new outfits, newbie MSPs, a shiny new Presiding Officer and Douglas Ross’s first go as Scottish Conservative leader.
From his performance on the election TV debates, viewers wouldn’t have been expecting much beyond that weird Tory wide-leg power stance and a whole lot of shouting.
Broadly speaking, the strategy of opposition party leaders at FMQs usually falls into one of two categories: constructive and dull or adversarial and interesting.
Jackson Carlaw favoured the former. Ruth Davidson, the latter. Not that it was particularly successful for either of them, but at least they had a plan.
READ MORE: FM puts Douglas Ross on the back foot over Cummings' claims of Tory chaos
If you were to take a punt, you’d probably expect Douglas Ross to follow Davidson’s lead. You get the sense that he’d follow her up a hill and down the middle aisle of Aldi if she asked him to.
But no. Yesterday, Douglas Ross forged his own path. He was not going to risk jeopardising his first-ever appearance at FMQs with the tired old strategies of former Scottish Tory leaders.
And so, he decided that he would be both adversarial and dull. Like Boris Johnson with a hangover.
Mr Ross asked the First Minister whether she agreed that the Scottish Government needs to reset its relationship with the business community, as was suggested by the Scottish Chamber of Commerce last month.
He said that her government hasn’t done enough to support businesses during the pandemic.
“But it hasn’t happened. Six weeks after it was promised, taxi drivers are still waiting on the second £1500 payment and businesses in Glasgow have had their plans upturned at 48 hours’ notice.”
He went on to ask the first minister what specific steps would be needed to ease restrictions in Glasgow.
The First Minister said that she understood the frustrations of the business community and the public. She added: “But sometimes, in the interests of health and human life, it is necessary for people in leadership positions like me to take very quick decisions because – as we know from bitter experience in this pandemic – it is often the failure to take quick and firm decisions that leads to loss of life.”
READ MORE: Tory MSP rapped for removing Gaelic from Scottish Parliament logo
She then dropped the Dom-Bomb. He Who Must Not Be Named. The Durham Destroyer. We were all wondering how long it would take for Nicola Sturgeon to mention Wednesday’s explosive evidence session with the Prime Minister’s former advisor and – fair play to her – she didn’t waste any time.
Douglas Ross wasn’t angry that the First Minister had pressed down hard on the open wound of his party, he was just very, very disappointed.
“I’m sure there will be plenty of time from your backbenchers’ scripted questions to answer about Dominic Cummings. I want to focus on what is happening in Scotland’s largest city and the impact that is having on businesses in our communities.”
Once his backbenchers had finished banging their desks in approval of his searing takedown, Mr Ross looked down at the
piece of paper his scripted questions were written on to check what was next.
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