It was supposed to be an explosive clash of political ideology – a high-stakes encounter of left versus right and Unionism against Nationalism.
Scotland’s buffalo-straddling Tory Ruth Davidson took her place yesterday as the leader of the official opposition against her seemingly unflappable rival Nicola Sturgeon in a beefed-up version of First Minister’s Questions.
But the inaugural FMQs of the parliament was not the clash of the titans many had hoped for.
Indeed, the most obvious clash in the opening exchanges between Davidson and Sturgeon was in their colour choice of blazer.
For her opening assault, Ruth Davidson chose to challenge the SNP leader on whether she had bowed to pressure from a teacher’s union to water down the publication of school performance data from new national tests.
The line of attack did not set Davidson’s own backbenches alight and the heckling and chuntering from the SNP ranks that bombarded most questions from the leader of the official opposition’s predecessor were largely absent.
As the arguments descended into the minutiae of standardised assessments, Sturgeon picked up where she left off pre-election and was never prised out of her comfort zone.
It was the SNP leader who proposed an extended First Minister’s Questions, a brave move which exposes her to more personal scrutiny than ever. On this showing, she has little to fear.
