If it is a mark of mature political leadership when you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs and blaming it on you then the spat at First Minister’s Questions two weeks ago was Alex Salmond’s most public coming of age. With emergency measures in place to deal with a threatened fuel shortage, the First Minister delivered a measured but altogether grandstanding statement which smacked of a man in control. He acknowledged the pivotal role of the UK Government, refused to be drawn into a blame game, called for calm and told Scotland not to panic. All this, while Wendy Alexander, failed to use her opportunity to even mention what was fast becoming an emerging national fuel crisis and major industrial dispute, preferring to talk about her current ‘special pass to the corridors of power’ bete noir. It was left to Annabel Goldie who is, should the Labour Party forget when it is laughing and clapping along with Ms Goldie’s well-timed retorts and faux displays of schoolgirl flirtatiousness, leader of the Conservative MSPs, to once again steal the opposition show by congratulating the FM on his approach to the dispute. And meanwhile Nicol Stephen, leader of the Lib Dems and a former deputy First Minister, encouraged everyone to panic, panic, panic. Salmond, the man so often accused of engaging in tit-for-tat attacks, coolly, calmly and diplomatically described a delicate industrial situation that he was very much involved in and on top of, he stressed that parties should work together to not inflame an already volatile situation and above all, stressed that no one needed to panic. His performance revealed him as a statesman who recognised that national emergencies are a time for consensual politics and strong leadership that transcends party political point scoring. The SNP won the election last year on the back of electoral dissatisfaction with Labour at a national UK level; the war, the cash for honours, the sleaze, all contributed to the electorate in Scotland turning away from Labour. One year on and Labour may now hold up the SNP report card and claim it is a party of broken promises but nothing much has changed in the intervening months to make anyone turn back to Labour. There has been disquiet over an unelected leader taking control at No. 10, there has been discomfort over election indecision, distrust over illegal donations, upset over a worsening economic situation, a disbelief at attacks on the poor over income tax and a dislike of a perceived bully-boy tactic by Westminster over an SNP Government standing up for Scotland. Add to this an increasing English unrest about Scotland’s power, share of money and a different form of government which provides free personal care, reduced prescription charges, no tuition fees and the chasm between what an SNP Government is achieving in Scotland and what Labour says it is not, is widening. Salmond’s Government may be light on legislation but as a minority administration has achieved a considerable amount in the last 12 months including signing an historic agreement with local government which has guaranteed a freezing of council tax, has abolished bridge tolls, reduced prescription charges, reprieved local A&Es, got rid of tuition fees and overturned the right-to-buy. And on a global stage, has revealed itself as a major player by announcing a £10m Saltire prize for renewable energy projects. As the party blows out its first candle and a general election edges ever nearer, what sweet irony for the birthday boy that it was oil that led him to sit round the table with the Scottish head of a UK Government.

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