The SNP is on course to win an unprecedented fifth term of government. It may be with a lower vote share - but a win is a win, and the polls are all pointing that way.

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Yes it is facing an electorate unsatisfied with its domestic record, but it’s also one not yet wholly convinced it wants to take a chance elsewhere. Therefore, it must do little to put off those who are not die-hard SNP supporters - but also do enough to keep those who are, fully on-board.

And while the polls keep showing a healthy lead, turnout is a gnawing worry either through voter complacency or just apathy and disaffection. Which is why the carrot of independence is being dangled once again - but only if it can fget that majority of MSPs which it has deigned necessary to ask No10 for indyref2. But it’s also why the party knows that is no longer enough to galvanise support.

So the manifesto of last week included a whole tranche of bright, shiny “look over there” retail promises - helping first time buyers with up to £10,000 in shared equity, capping bus fares at £2, and of course price fixing of essential foods like bread and milk. A policy which the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to implement, even if the party says it is approaching it from a public health point of view. It’s a good soundbite if the reality is it will put no cheap food on anyone’s plate.

Pollster Mark Diffley has described this election as “loveless” - Scots unenamoured with all parties, but right now feeling they might as well stick with what they’ve got.

The last thing John Swinney needs then is events. They can keep happening to Keir Starmer of course - though Scottish Labour now believe that is baked in and even the latest Mandelson revelations will not affect their vote. No, John Swinney doesn’t want events happening to him.

Enter from behind the curtain, the ghost at the feast, Alex Salmond.

The dream shall never die was his sign off when the late Mr Salmond resigned as First Minister in the wake of defeat in the 2014 referendum. In fact it is Salmond's nightmare which haunts the SNP; his theory of a plot cooked up within the SNP to jail him.

He first made public claims of that type the day he was cleared after a criminal trial which saw him face charges of sexual misconduct, including attempted rape. It couldn’t have been more serious for the former FM and he went to his grave believing the trial had been an orchestrated stitch up by high-ranking people in the party he once led.

Such allegations have been continually dismissed by his successors as party leader and many others within the SNP. Yet this weekend we have had revelations from former SNP MP Joanna Cherry and the publication of private Whatsapp messages between some at the heart of the case.

Cherry - who is about to publish her book Keeping the Dream Alive - recounts how some in the party acted when the allegations of sexual misconduct were first made against Mr Salmond. “Gloating” is her word - “witch-hunt” another. Some will dismiss that as the bitter recollections of a former member who was embroiled in internal political infighting. But the publication of hitherto unseen messages cannot be so easily waived away.

Whether the Whatsapps published in the Sunday Mail prove conspiracy and plot is not what matters - the fact is that they will cast doubt once again on how the SNP operates as a party. If there are voters who had been turned off by the chaos which engulfed the SNP after Nicola Sturgeon stood down, but who were thinking once more of casting their vote in that direction, then the resurrection of Salmond's accusations may make them pause.

SNP strategists will know all too well of the work done by More in Common, looking at what actually cuts through with the public. The polling firm found that "the highest negative cut through is the Sturgeon/Murrell investigation" which had been heard of by 81% of those asked.

Now that scandal - which is yet to reach a conclusion as Peter Murrell's trial for allegedly embezzling party funds will be after the election - is not connected to Alex Salmond's claims, but the cementing of the SNP with the word "trial" and "allegations" is a million miles from the connection the party wants to make in the mind of voters.

And then there's the Jordan Linden case. Two days before the election this former bright young thing within the ranks of SNP councillors will be sentenced after being found guilty of ten offences including sexual assault, stalking, and sexual communication. John Swinney has been questioned about just what he knew of this case and when - and there are still questions to be answered about how the party dealt with complaints about Linden.

For him the timing of all of this could not be worse. He has undeniably steadied the SNP ship, and while one bombshell may not blow it from the water, the steady drip, drip of these events, may well see already disaffected voters feel even less included to put their cross against the SNP's name in the polling booth. That could cost him that majority he says he would need to be able to ask for a second independence referendum. It would also put Salmond's independence dream even further out of reach.

© LBC