John Swinney inherited a shambles when he took over from Humza Yousaf as SNP First Minister in May. He found himself in charge of a party that was divided and hurtling towards a general election humbling.
Government policies were alienating key sections of Scottish society and Ministers were managing decline. The SNP had lost the precious commodity that fuelled four Holyrood election wins: trust.
In eight months, Swinney has turned his party around to the extent that he is favourite to stay on as First Minister after the Holyrood election.
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Key to his success was working his way down a to-do list that addressed party and Government weakness. Yousaf had banished MSPs like Kate Forbes and Ivan McKee to the backbenches, but Swinney created party unity by bringing them back into Government.
He reached out to the business community and local government partners who had felt marginalised.
A safe Programme For Government in the autumn was followed by a political savvy Budget in December that put opposition parties on the spot. Swinney has cleared the decks and given himself the best possible chance of holding on to power next year.
But he knows his weak spot is the state of public services, particularly the NHS. The health service is a basket case as a result of years of mis-management by the SNP Government and voters are sick of excuses.
Swinney’s decision to take personal control of the response to the crisis is a sign of how dangerous an issue it is for his Government.
Over 800,000 Scots are waiting for treatment and analysis shows the figure could rise to over one million by next year. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has had a poor start to the New Year, but he and his colleagues are relentless in pointing out the pressure faced by NHS staff and patients.
Swinney has turned the corner but he still has a long way to travel to secure a fifth SNP term.
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