Andrew Whitaker: The SNP is on the ropes and must come out fighting if it is to pin back a rejuvenated opposition

THE political crisis gripping Alex Salmond and his beleaguered education minister Mike Russell represents one of the low points of the SNP’s five and a half year tenure in office.

Assorted accusations that Mr Salmond and Mr Russell misled MSPs over college funding have kept coming thick and fast, with the Labour opposition baying for blood and sensing that the SNP’s self-styled reputation for competence in government is not all it appears.

Coming hot on the heels of claims that Mr Salmond lied on TV about the status of an independent Scotland’s EU membership, some commentators are beginning to suggest that the SNP administration is showing signs of being crisis-ridden.

It’s still true to say that Mr Salmond remains immeasurably more popular than his opposite numbers at Holyrood on either the Labour, Tory or what remains of the Lib Dem benches.

But there can come a time in a political cycle where a government lurches from crisis to crisis – and it can be hard for a government to regain the initiative when it finds itself forever firefighting and on the political ropes.

True, Mr Salmond’s troubles do not compare with those of the disaster-ridden government of John Major in the 1990s that, at times, appeared to have set out to lose the 1997 general election in some style following its unexpected return to power in 1992.

Mr Salmond is unlikely to be associated with the same level of crises that gripped Mr Major’s car crash of a premiership, such as the ill-fated “back to basics” campaign on so-called moral values and the varied accusations of sleaze involving figures such as Jonathan Aitken and Neil Hamilton.

The SNP government’s troubles also do not compare to those of Labour towards during the last few years of its time in power at UK level, such as the “cash for honours” scandal.

But it’s worth remembering that Mr Salmond is now the longest-serving First Minister of the devolution era.

The shine began to come off Tony’s Blair’s Labour government not too long after the party’s second landslide election victory in 2001, with the controversial military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq coming not long after the electoral triumph.

It did appear for a time that the normal laws of politics did not apply to Mr Salmond, with his historic second election victory last year.

Mr Salmond may even have believed himself that he could buck the trend of political history and maintain a high level of popularity throughout his time in office. Certainly, the SNP leader appeared to be shocked when he was booed at the victory celebration for Olympians by sections of the crowd in Glasgow in September.

Now, whatever happens to Mr Russell, Mr Salmond has to contend with a somewhat rejuvenated Labour opposition that senses the SNP government could be weak on the issue of public trust.