Calls for Nicola Sturgeon to resign from the SNP after her arrest during a police probe reek of old scores being settled.
Ash Regan, who called on her to quit, walked out of Sturgeon’s Government in protest last year over the gender recognition reforms.
Regan was probably going to be sacked in any reshuffle if she had stayed in Government and there was little warmth between the pair.
Fellow MSP Michelle Thomson, who urged Sturgeon to resign the whip, had her own poor treatment in mind when making the call.
She was thrown to the wolves in 2015 when coverage of her previous property dealings led to her suspension.
It happened on Sturgeon’s watch and Thomson has a long memory of a bruising episode that nearly wrecked her career.
Despite Sturgeon having history with both MSPs, Thomson in particular has a point.
She was forced to withdraw the whip and suspended even when there was no police investigation into her.
Humza Yousaf’s insistence there is "no reason" to suspend Sturgeon looks like a shifting of the goalposts for a favoured party daughter.
The Regan and Thomson interventions also underline the civil war that is brewing inside the SNP and the fact Yousaf is unable to move past the police investigation.
If he suspended Sturgeon, her allies would go wild and it would dominate the headlines for days.
Failure to do so will result in the slow-drip of critics calling for him to take action against Sturgeon.
It is heads he loses and tails he fails.
Yousaf, far from being able to get on the front foot as First Minister, is trapped in a civil war created by others.
It is many years since Alex Salmond acted in the best interests of the SNP, but his response to the Sturgeon Government investigating him over sexual harassment claims is worth noting.
He quit the party in order to “remove this line of opposition attack”.
Sturgeon has not been charged with anything, but she is a politician to her fingertips and will realise Yousaf is caught in the middle of a circus.
Stepping back until the police investigation is resolved could give her successor the breathing space he needs.
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