Sometimes, as a politician, you lead. Quite frequently, you are led. By fluid public opinion or by circumstances, Macmillan’s “events”.
Consider the Post Office disgrace. Few could have foreseen that a familiar scandal could be reinvigorated by a TV drama to the extent that both Westminster and Holyrood are set to act in search of urgent redress for those so shamefully treated.
The doctrine of “events” applies to electoral politics too. Hence the strategy outlined by Humza Yousaf at the SNP’s UK General Election campaign launch.
Read more by Brian Taylor: Scottish Budget: Forget the tax row – what about the NHS?
Yes, I know, it isn’t the real launch. That will come between now and January 2025, whenever the election is actually called. Me, I tip October.
Still, the Yousaf event is significant. It is driven by ambition, of course, but also by set-back and defeat, most recently in Rutherglen.
In adversity, the smart politician adapts. Humza Yousaf has gone rather further. He has conceded overall victory to Labour from the outset. We should, he told The Herald earlier this week, “stop beating around the bush”.
There was, of course, an edge to his magnanimity. He added that, “barring a catastrophe”, even Sir Keir Starmer should be capable of winning in the current circumstances of Tory travails.
And he proffered an addendum to the effect that Labour still lacked the “radical, bold prospectus” which Scotland needed.
Still, he firmly forecast a Labour UK victory, with Rishi Sunak ousted from Number 10.
Why? Why bolster the........