STEPHEN DAISLEY'S SKETCH: He spat out buzzwords like a political vending machine trends now
Fire up the DeLorean and get the flux capacitor revving: the SNP is heading back to the future. John Swinney pulled up at the Grassmarket to launch his campaign to replace Humza Yousaf.
Swinney has been SNP leader before, back in what friends’ children refer to as ‘the olden days’, or the early 2000s to be exact.
But, as he chided one impertinent correspondent, it is ‘ageist’ to query why the Nationalists are turning to a party elder rather than one of the many talented young Nats we keep hearing about but never seem to encounter.
I feel compelled to defend Swinney. Joe Biden is 81, Donald Trump, 77. At 60, Swinney is a mere whippersnapper.
And he plans on hanging around. ‘I am no caretaker,’ he vowed. ‘I am no interim leader.’ Not only would he lead the Nationalists into the general election, he would take them into Holyrood 2026 and serve a full term as first minister.
John Swinney at the launch of his leadership bid
He proved how much he’d adapted to the modern SNP by spitting out buzzwords like a political vending machine: when he wasn’t dispensing a ‘reflects my values’, he was serving up a ‘modern, diverse, dynamic Scotland’.
The purpose of such empty verbiage is to speak without saying anything anyone might hold you to later, but it has the added advantage of dulling the senses of those listening.
All the better to sneak in some more daring lines, such as his pledge to ‘unite Scotland for independence’.
The idea of bringing people together to tear them apart is novel enough, but unity? From Swinney?
The first time round, the bloke couldn’t even bring his own party together. Good luck with Scotland.
He also accused Labour of dumping policies ‘in the empty pursuit of
