Kate Forbes has said she dodged a bullet or “something even more explosive” by losing the SNP leadership election.

The SNP MSP joked she was sometimes “most delighted” by the way things had worked out when she heard First Minister’s Questions on the radio.

Elsewhere, she said the decision to expel Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil from the SNP will do the party “zero favours” when it comes to retaining the seat at the next general election.

Ms Forbes, the former finance secretary, narrowly lost out to Humza Yousaf at the SNP leadership election at the end of March. She received 23,890 votes (48 per cent) overall once second preferences were distributed, compared to Mr Yousaf’s 26,032 votes (52 per cent).

Mr Yousaf’s time in office has since been dominated by the fallout from the police investigation into the SNP’s finances. Three senior party figures have been arrested and released without charge, including former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell.

During a live recording of Iain Dale and Jacqui Smith's For the Many podcast at the Edinburgh Fringe, Ms Forbes was asked if she felt she had “dodged a bullet”.

She said: “I certainly, whenever, in the last few months, was returning home from toddler group with First Minister’s Questions on the radio, was most delighted by the way things had worked out. So I think that it has been enormously difficult, and I think – not just dodged a bullet, but perhaps something even more explosive than that.”

Ms Forbes, whose daughter Naomi was born last year, insisted she was “highly, highly unlikely” to run for the party leadership again, but did not rule it out entirely. She said: “At the moment, I absolutely stand by what I’ve said, which is I have no desire to re-run.”

The MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch – who is a member of the socially conservative Free Church of Scotland – faced strong criticism at the start of her leadership campaign after she said she would not have voted for gay marriage. The comments led to her losing support from key backers.

She said she made a decision to “be clear” about her views. “I thought that to prevaricate, to dodge questions, to look quite slippery, would not be respectful to the electorate,” she added.

Elsewhere, Ms Forbes was asked what she thought of Mr MacNeil's expulsion. Mr MacNeil was suspended from the SNP’s Westminster group last month following a row with the party’s chief whip, and later refused to rejoin at the end of his suspension.

Mr MacNeil said he will stand as an independent candidate at the next general election after the SNP confirmed he had been expelled.

Ms Forbes said: "I think it's always unfortunate when anybody leaves. I think it's even more unfortunate when this has happened. I do not know – this is not me dodging the question – I do not know the ins and outs sufficiently of what the case was, but I think this result does us zero favours when it comes to the next election in the Western Isles."

She said the Western Isles was going to be "quite a challenging seat" anyway.

Ms Forbes also backed re-negotiating the co-operation agreement between the SNP and the Greens in Holyrood. “I would want a debate about the substance of the Bute House Agreement,” she said. “I would want to look at whether or not we are meeting the needs and the priorities of the people at this moment in time.”

She added: “I think that co-operation matters. I think co-operation with the Greens is helpful if the substance of the agreement serves people. I could give you a list of things I don’t think are serving people right now, some of which has already changed, like banning fishing, dualling the A9, gas boilers, and so on. And I would like a discussion about that.”

Ms Forbes said her views on this were “well-documented”.

Kate Forbes: I dodged something 'even more explosive' than bullet by losing SNP leadership bid

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