There was much sadness amongst SNP members this afternoon as John Swinney MSP opened a Scottish Parliament debate for the last time after 16 years in the Cabinet, more than half of them as Deputy First Minister.
A stalwart of the SNP since his teens, John was elected to Westminster in 1997 and Holyrood two years later.
He was also SNP Leader from 2000 to 2004.
His sage advice will be a loss to whoever becomes our new First Minister next week as John will now serve his constituents from the back benches.
I wasn’t speaking in the debate, which was on the Transition to a Wellbeing Economy but I did intervene.
Watch the exchange by clicking on the graphic above.
