AT the last FMQs before October recess, Liz Truss was the prime minister, Kwasi Kwarteng was the chancellor and Douglas Ross claimed to be very happy to see both in post.
That very strong and stable government quickly collapsed, taking the pound down with it.
Which leaves the Scottish Tory leader in a bit of a predicament.
It’s hard to fully lean into your role as chief defender of the precious Union when your pals down in Westminster are such helpful recruiting sergeants for the independence cause.
But God loves a trier and so at FMQs on Thursday, Douglas Ross gave it his best shot.
He began with a quote from “senior European Union officials” about the SNP’s plan to rejoin the EU after Scotland becomes independent which said “no Euro: no membership”.
“That’s not what Nicola Sturgeon’s economic paper from last week said. So who’s lying to the Scottish people: the European Union, or Nicola Sturgeon?”
Strap in, folks. Because both leaders were ready for a pre-Halloween rammy.
Nicola Sturgeon said she read the article in question with interest but pointed out that the quotes contained within it were based on four unnamed sources.
So she read out some named on the record quotes from “very important people” which said (and I’m paraphrasing slightly here) “you can join the Euro if you want to pal but no worries if not”.
She then read out a list of EU countries that have retained their own currency.
Douglas Ross jumped to his feet declaring that this was “desperate, desperate stuff from Nicola Sturgeon”.
“What she didn’t quote was that it is a criteria for countries ENTERING INTO, not CURRENTLY IN the European Union to join up to the Euro!”
“The criteria he refers to was actually in place when Sweden joined the EU twenty-seven years ago”, replied the First Minister.
She then described Douglas Ross ignoring the “hard evidence” as “utterly pathetic and desperate” and said that he should put his arguments to the test in a referendum.
As you can imagine, this greatly displeased the Scottish Tory leader. He said that, in trying to break up the UK, Nicola Sturgeon was risking plagues of biblical proportions falling upon Scotland. Hard borders! Permanent austerity! No plan for pensions!
He went on to mention possible mortgage insecurity in an independent Scotland. It was at this point the SNP benches erupted with wry laughter and the presiding officer was forced to make a plea for quiet.
In response, Nicola Sturgeon urged Douglas Ross to “reflect on the fact that people across the chamber there were not laughing WITH him …”
“Rishi Sunak is fixing recent mistakes” insisted Douglas Ross, whereas Nicola Sturgeon wants to “wreck the economy for good!”
Douglas Ross seemed to forget that in the wake of the mini-budget, his party criticised the Scottish Government for not emulating the “recent mistakes” of the UK Government.
The First Minister wasn’t prepared to let the flip-flopping go unremarked upon.
“He called on Boris Johnson to resign. Then he U-turned. Then he called on Boris Johnson to resign again. Then he U-turned again. He demanded that I follow the mini-budget. Then he applauded Liz Truss for scrapping the mini-budget. He voted for fracking in England. Now he welcomes the fact that the fracking ban has been reinstated in England. Just last week, or the week before. he said that Liz Truss would win the next General Election. Days later, he welcomed the resignation of Liz Truss.
“Today he backs Rishi Sunak … Who knows what Douglas Ross’s position will be this time next week”, she concluded.
