Did Humza leave John a note? If so, what did it say? Perhaps like Labour’s outgoing Treasury minister Liam Byrne in 2010, it cut to the chase: “Dear John, I’m afraid there’s no money.”

The Scottish Government’s finances are precarious. It’s never quite true that governments have no money, but unlike the UK Government with its hefty borrowing powers, the Scottish Government must work within strict fiscal constraints and this year’s Holyrood budget was one of the toughest ever.

If John Swinney’s challenge as SNP leader is to unite his party, his challenge as First Minister is to find goals parliament will support and – harder still – the cash to achieve them.

John Swinney wants to “build the economy, support jobs, address the cost-of-living crisis, improve the health service and tackle the climate crisis”, he says. Above all, he wants to “eradicate child poverty”. A shopping list like that will require a wagonload of gold.

Mr Swinney doesn’t have it. He can’t spend what he hasn’t got so while he’ll hope to make progress on all of them, some of those promises will go unmet. He has to prioritise and we’re being left in no doubt about what comes first: child poverty.

Humza Yousaf has handed power to John Swinney (Image: free)

Is that the right call? Absolutely. Can he achieve it? Yes, but only if he and the Holyrood parliament direct a lot of cash into it.

However you look at it – morally, politically, economically – eradicating child poverty is number one.

The moral argument is overwhelming. Child poverty is a disgrace in a........

© Herald Scotland