And when they were up they were up. And when they were down they were down.

I’m not sure how Nicola Sturgeon felt at the Cenotaph earlier today at the VE Day Celebration event.  The awkward twitch of her right foot and looking away as the Duke of York laid his wreath was perhaps an unconscious display of her republican leanings.  Not that there is anything wrong with republican leanings.  Or was it she was remembering the other Duke of York, the Grand Old one, who marched his troops to the top of the hill only to have to march them back down again.  And I wonder if that’s Nicola’s concern.  I say that on two fronts. 

First of all she has marched her troops very effectively up the hill with the hopes of her supporters high.  And it was “her” supporters, this had a very presidential feel to it north of the Border, including the helicopter.  (I did hear some wag wonder if she could see the food banks from her helicopter).  But the march up the hill was done with the promise of influence and power at Westminster.  Now it’s clear she has neither it’s a new form of words that have appeared.  They are diluted to making Scotland’s voice heard at Westminster.  How she manages that drop in expectation for the thousands who have swelled the ranks of the SNP in recent months will be an interesting one to watch.

But it’s a second issue that is more concerning.  If marching charged up people back down has its own troubles, the behaviour of the new MPs will be an even bigger worry for her.  A good number of her new colleagues at Westminster have no track record of elected office.  Some of them have said pretty unwise things.  For example, Mhairi Black who unseated shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander as MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South described No voters in the referendum as “gullible” and “selfish”.   She has a turn of phrase for every occasion it would seem.

She bragged on Twitter: “Smirnoff Ice is the drink of the gods - I cannae handle this c*** man.”  Dangerous thing Twitter for any elected politician.  And there is nothing wrong with being a Partick Thistle fan.  But for an aspiring politician there is a lot wrong in the west of Scotland saying: “I’ve only just realised - I really f***** hate Celtic” and “Celtic, yer a joke!#scum".  Or when she fantasied about “putting the nut” on Labour councillors at a rally in George Square in Glasgow. 

Now in isolation these are not really issues.  But when you have a troop of similar hot headed loose cannons around Westminster, how long will it take for the credibility of the SNP as a disciplined body to fall to bits and with it the message they are clearly wanting to bring to the UK public.