Nicola Sturgeon is invariably at her most persuasive best when she puts partisanship to one side and emphasises that, in addition to leading the Scottish National Party, she is also first minister of Scotland. Occasions such as yesterday, when she outlined her programme for government, give her that opportunity to shine. In place of boastfulness, there was modesty; in place of gurning about what she could not do, there was a refreshing emphasis on what she could. It was a speech tacitly admitting the truth of admissions made by former SNP ministers that during the referendum years the party allowed itself to be distracted by independence at the expense of ambitious government on the domestic front.
SNP types dislike the suggestion the party ever learnt anything from Tony Blair but the programme for government unveiled yesterday showed how deep that unacknowledged debt remains. The SNP is as keen on Third Way triangulation as any Blairite ever was.
The secret truth about the nationalists is that they are a moderate party in radical clothes.
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