SO, a certain character from King Lear gets exiled for telling the truth. There is no room at the inn for Kate Forbes or else she was offered such a rotten room she chose the stable instead.

There are some oddities about the election of Humza Yousaf to First Minister and leader of the SNP. The surprise is not that he did so well, but that he did so badly. The whole SNP establishment backed him. It was obvious that Sturgeon wanted him to win. And so it came to pass that he did win. But by 52% to 48%. That’s so near to the margin of error that he might have not won. A couple of thousand votes here or there and Sturgeon might not have got her successor. Can even the SNP control the results of elections to that extent?

What would have happened if Kate Forbes had been a little bit more political about questions on gay marriage, abortion and premarital sex. She might have refused to answer on the grounds that Yousaf wasn’t questioned on his private religious views. I will tell you whether I think gay sex is sinful when you first find out what Humza thinks. Would this have got Forbes over the line?

But actually, I think Forbes won more votes than she lost by being the most honest and truthful politician in living memory. It was this that was the dividing line between her and Yousaf.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters