Nicola Sturgeon has just kebabed Kezia Dugdale in the STV debate

For much of last night’s STV debate, the last such contest in Scotland in this election, it looked as though the headline story would be the manner in which Ruth Davidson was hammered by all the other Scottish party leaders. The Tory leader was taken to task over the government’s changes to tax credits and, in particular, the so-called ‘rape clause’. Valiantly as she tried to defend herself she was unavoidably on the back foot.

And then Nicola Sturgeon changed the subject. According to the first minister, in a private conversation just after the Brexit referendum, Kezia Dugdale, the Labour leader, told Sturgeon that she and her party were now open to the idea of a second referendum on independence.

That, children, is what a nationalist dead cat looks like. Lies, screamed Labour. The truth will out, roared the Tories. And all the while, the nationalists smiled quietly, admiring the neatness of Nicola’s knife work and enjoying the manner in which she had filleted poor Kezia Dugdale.