One good thing about the removal of David Tydeman as chief executive of the Ferguson shipyard at Port Glasgow is that it sets a precedent. Finally, it is possible for someone to carry the can.
That novelty must surely be built on. Over a decade, this saga has assembled a cast of villains, none of whom has paid any penalty. Mutual interest has underpinned the invulnerability of politicians, civil servants and sundry associates.
There is general surprise that Mr Tydeman is the precedent-setter. Since he accepted the poisoned chalice in December 2021, he came across as an adult in the room who identified the scale of problems and got on with addressing them.
Whoever’s fault it is that the order for two modest CalMac ferries is running seven years late and costing at least quadruple the original fixed price, it is not David Tydeman’s, whose main offence, it seems, has been an excess of frankness.
He kept coming back to ministers and Holyrood committees to tell them the ferries would be delayed even longer and cost even more. Recipients of these messages did not react well. Neither did the random bunch scraped together as the board of Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Ltd: not the most attractive gig for itinerant non-execs.
Mr Tydeman’s fate appears like a classic case of shooting the messenger. It wasn’t his fault more time and money were required to finish the ferries. These inevitabilities were baked into past failures under his predecessors, both private and public.
I visited the Ferguson yard a couple of months ago and Mr Tydeman gave a tour of the Glen Sannox. I am relatively well versed........