Kate Forbes may have lost the battle but will she win the war? Forbes narrowly missed out in the SNP leadership race last month but she has handled her defeat much more gracefully than Humza Yousaf has greeted victory. While the Farce Minister has purged anyone of any talent from his cabinet, Forbes has done the sensible thing: left office without a public fuss while her allies brief the press on her behalf.
Following reports that a 15-strong SNP caucus is being set up to keep the Forbes flame alive, the lady herself is flexing her Highland muscles. She has today been announced as the new weekly columnist for the National, the Paisley Pravda which self-identifies as a newspaper.
So why not the Herald or Scotsman? Isn’t she the woman who bills herself as the one who reaches across the aisle to Unionists? But: she’s aiming for the selectorate, not the electorate. If Forbes thinks that Yousaf might implode soon, then she needs a profile and now has one in the SNP supporters’ paper of choice. Had she wanted to walk away from frontline politics she would be taking it easy: instead she has a weekly nationalist megaphone to give her a better platform than most Scottish cabinet members. It shouldn’t be too hard to pose as the voice of sanity next to Yousaf’s blundering – teeing her up nicely for whenever he implodes.
Forbes’ first article will be posted online tonight, with her musings due to feature alongside the likes of such intellectual giants as Ruth Wishart, Richard Murphy, Wee Ginger Dug and, er, Owen Jones. The juxtaposition – against them and Yousaf – will certainly help next time around.
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