John Swinney has finally dropped any pretence that he cares about the concept of democracy.

For years, the First Minister wished us to believe he and the SNP represented a new kind of politics which brought decision making closer to the people.

Well, all that nonsense is well and truly over now.

As Scots prepare to vote, on Thursday, in the seventh Holyrood election, we can be in no doubt that Mr Swinney’s care for the democratic good health of our nation has always been performative.

In an interview published on Monday, the First Minister made clear that – despite the fact a minority of Scots support independence – his first act in government, should he be returned to office, will be to push for a second vote on breaking up the United Kingdom.

Asked whether he would expect talks with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to begin immediately, he replied that this would be necessary as ‘there has to be a recognition of the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland’.

Aides to the First Minister had earlier let it be known that he will push for Indyref2 even if his party requires the support of the Greens to form a majority at Holyrood.

Mr Swinney’s support for the ‘recognition of the democratic wishes’ of Scots is somewhat erratic.

Neither he nor any of his SNP government colleagues have ever, even for a single second, recognised that Scots’ democratic wish in 2014 was to remain part of the UK.

Mr Swinney walked straight past referendum defeat in the street without recognising it. Instead, he and his party doubled down in a relentless battle for another vote on secession.

The decision of Scots was ignored while Mr Swinney, former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and other senior SNP figures went about telling voters that, in fact, they did support independence. For almost 12 years now, the SNP has been promising its supporters a second referendum that the Scottish Government has no power to deliver and that the majority of voters do not want.

And while the Nationalists – whether under Nicola Sturgeon, her blink-and-you’ll-miss-him successor Humza Yousaf, or Mr Swinney – have focused their attention on matters constitutional, standards across public services have slumped.

Scotland’s NHS is in crisis; standards of literacy and numeracy among children are unacceptably low; and costs for multi-million pound projects such as new hospitals or ferries have spiralled out of control under the stewardship of incompetent ministers.

It remains possible that, by voting tactically, the Unionist majority of Scots will remove the SNP from office.

That would not only be in the best interests of the country – the SNP’s track record makes that case, overwhelmingly – but it would do the party the world of good, too.

Speak to a Scottish Nationalist in the thick of campaigning and they will tell you the party is bursting with confidence and ideas.

But if you find yourself in the company of a former SNP politician, chances are you’ll hear a different story.

Over recent years, a number of ex-ministers and other senior Nationalists have disclosed to me their belief that their party needs time out of power in order to refresh.

‘Think of it like this,’ says one formerly high-ranking SNP figure. ‘At the 2024 general election, we were selling a message about how this was people’s chance to finally get rid of the Tories after 14 years. Obviously, the first part of that message was they’re Tories and that always plays with our voters but the second part of the message was that they’d been in power so long that we all needed a break.

‘We’re just hitting 19 years and it’s clear we’re tired.’

But still Mr Swinney blunders on, claiming his party has the answers to problems created and exacerbated under its watch.

Perhaps the starkest illustration of the distance between reality and SNP rhetoric has been the party’s announcement of a plan for the first 100 days under an SNP government.

That the first 100 days took place in 2007 (and there have been almost 7,000 days of SNP government since) seems to have slipped Mr Swinney’s mind.

Even if the First Minister does scrape a majority this week, it is unlikely that he will be around to negotiate anything with the UK Government for long.

Mr Swinney was, until Mr Yousaf resigned in 2024, planning to retire from frontline politics. Three decades in the thick of it was quite enough, thanks all the same.

Since his return to government, Mr Swinney has sought to persuade the country that he is back for the long run. Should he lead the SNP to victory, he says, it is his intention to see out the next parliament as FM.

Well, of course, he does. No party leader dares risk going into an election without appearing fully committed to the role.

But the fact remains that Mr Swinney is considered by colleagues to be a caretaker.

His return to leadership is a blip, a kink in the natural order, that will soon be corrected. Waiting in the wings are two ambitious young SNP politicians who, many party insiders believe, will soon be battling for the leadership.

The wildly unimpressive Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan is said to be Mr Swinney’s preferred successor, speculation fuelled by his decision to send her in his place to a recent edition of Question Time featuring Scottish Party leaders.

If Ms McAllan does stand, she can expect to face a challenge from Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader at Westminster who is on track to win a Holyrood seat on Thursday.

Pugnacious and politically astute, Mr Flynn divides opinion in the SNP Holyrood group. Some consider him the party’s brightest hope and others dismiss him as arrogant and uncooperative.

There is an acceptance across the upper echelons of the SNP that John Swinney’s leadership is time limited.

He is an accidental First minister, brought in to steady the Nationalist ship, and the next generation is eager for change.

Already, tensions are mounting between allies of Ms McAllan and Mr Flynn.

One struggles, right now, to find a Scottish Government source with much good to say about Mr Flynn.

Conversely, praise for Ms McAllan tumbles out.

Party insiders supportive of both potential candidates agree that Mr Swinney will have to make clear a succession strategy soon after the election.

If he does not make clear, says one senior MSP, how the next generation can advance, ‘the next generation will just get up and advance on him’.

Next week, Mairi McAllan and Stephen Flynn will be sitting together on the SNP benches, each with an eye on the prize of becoming Scotland’s next First Minister.

If Mr Swinney wins this election, he wishes to plunge Scotland deeper into the chaos of an interminable constitutional argument.

But the bitterness and division John Swinney plans to foment may soon be eclipsed by a brutal battle to replace him.