Imagine a nation where the government faces legal action for allegedly disregarding the law. The driving force behind this legal challenge is a ‘tsar’ tasked with promoting transparency, who is growing increasingly frustrated with the country’s political leaders.

The government is withholding confidential documents related to how sexual harassment complaints were managed against a former leader. Meanwhile, the new head of the government appeared on television, firmly denying any involvement in a ‘culture of secrecy and obfuscation,’ maintaining a seemingly sincere demeanor.

Despite offering vague promises to eventually comply with the order to release the documents, this leader is also delaying compliance with a separate gender-related ruling issued by the nation’s highest court.

Adding to the controversies, this same leader is embroiled in a dispute involving a major hospital where the health board is accused of severely mishandling patient care, resulting in fatalities and serious health issues.

But the same man, while giving vague assurances he’ll ultimately respect the edict to hand over the dossier, is dragging his feet on complying with a separate ruling on gender – handed down by the highest court in the land.

And this same leader is mired in a row over a superhospital where the dysfunctional health board is accused of effectively poisoning its patients, leading to deaths and serious illness.

You would be forgiven for thinking this was a banana republic – but shamefully it’s Scotland in the 21st century, under a Nationalist government which treats voters with brazen contempt.

What makes it all the more remarkable is that John Swinney wants to present himself as a fresh start for Scotland – despite his previous roles as the Minister for Cover-Ups and a ruthless consigliere for both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.

The First Minister presents himself as ‘Honest John’ – but he’s no fresh start for Scotland, writes Graham Grant

The endemic secrecy of the SNP state would make North Koreans blush

Despite his half-hearted denial, the reality is that the endemic secrecy of Mr Swinney’s failing SNP state would make the North Koreans blush.

When it comes to politics Mr Swinney is entirely devoid of integrity and not a word he says can be trusted – not now, and not years ago when he did his bosses’ bidding under the laughable nickname of Honest John.

He knows where the bodies are buried and in some cases he buried them, yet we’re supposed to believe him when he says he’ll give up the Salmondgate files before the election in May.

Or at least he’ll provide a response, which could mean anything, and it may be heavily censored – in keeping with the SNP’s long and ignoble track record of government by redaction.

The documents at the centre of the row relate to Ms Sturgeon’s handling of the complaints against the late Mr Salmond – her former mentor and boss who later became her worst enemy.

Information Commissioner David Hamilton instructed lawyers to take the Scottish Government to court over its failure to publish evidence submitted to an inquiry into whether Ms Sturgeon broke the ministerial code.

Judges at the Court of Session will now decide whether it treats this as contempt of court.

Remarkably, it is the first time the commissioner – who was appointed by the King on the nomination of the Scottish parliament to oversee freedom of information (FOI) legislation in Scotland – has reported non-compliance to the court.

Mr Swinney was a consigliere for Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon

Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone has repeatedly refused former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross the opportunity to question the First Minister or one of his colleagues on why the SNP is failing to comply with another law

As we reported on Saturday, it follows a five-year-long battle by a member of the public who used FOI laws to press for the release of some evidence submitted to the investigation into Ms Sturgeon, which was carried out by James Hamilton, KC, in 2021.

In a long-running dispute, the government initially responded to the original FOI request to say it did not have the information.

It argued Mr Hamilton was an independent adviser and not subject to FOI legislation. However, the commissioner intervened, ordering the government to look at the case again.

When ministers challenged this decision in the Court of Session, their appeal was refused. There’s also a bleak sense that vital institutions of the state have haemorrhaged credibility under the SNP.

During earlier stages of the Salmond saga, the Crown Office was accused of censoring vital evidence on contentious legal grounds while its head, the Lord Advocate, continues to hold a Cabinet position.

Former Supreme Court judge Lord Hope of Craighead expressed his surprise that the Crown had intervened in the parliamentary inquiry into the Salmond debacle by actively warning Holyrood that Mr Salmond’s evidence could be in contempt of court.

Back in 2021, Lord Hope asked: ‘Does the Scottish parliament think that it is at risk of being held to be in contempt of court?

‘Or is it just not wanting to offend the Crown Office? There is a question here that needs to be addressed.’

Former Supreme Court judge Lord Hope of Craighead expressed his surprise that the Crown had intervened in the parliamentary inquiry into the Salmond debacle by actively warning Holyrood that Mr Salmond’s evidence could be in contempt of court

Five years on, ahead of an election, the row continues to rage, and we’re no closer to getting the answers Lord Hope demanded.

Meanwhile, the net result of more than a quarter of a century of devolution is a parliament with a Presiding Officer who is accused of being little more than a puppet for the SNP.

She has repeatedly refused former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross the opportunity to question the First Minister or one of his colleagues on why the SNP is failing to comply with another law.

The Holyrood ‘speaker’ Alison Johnstone has been accused of shielding SNP ministers from scrutiny about its legal arguments for allowing biological males into women’s prisons.

The SNP claimed a blanket ban on biological males who identify as women entering female prisons ‘would violate the rights of some prisoners’.

In doing so, it is flouting a Supreme Court ruling which put paid to the Nationalists’ transgender radicalism – or should have.

Devolution was meant to share power with the people – but those founding principles are long dead, if they ever really existed.

The law is an inconvenience to the SNP, a party that likes to berate Donald Trump for his cavalier attitude to democratic values – despite the fact the Nationalists themselves plainly see those values as an optional extra.

At the same time, blame-shifting has ratcheted up a gear over the latest NHS water contamination disclosures.

The First Minister has admitted there was a ‘cultural problem’ at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and that it ‘looks like’ families of people who died at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) were lied to.

Did his government know they were lies at the time, and if so why didn’t it take action to oust the guilty board members, none of whom have so far been held to account for their actions (or inactions)?

There are many useful idiots in the separatists’ ranks lining up on social media to claim the hospital scandal is some kind of Unionist plot.

But police are now investigating the deaths of six patients who contracted infections while being treated at the QEUH, while a whistleblowing doctor claims the hospital is still unsafe and that there remains a ‘broken culture’ of cover-ups.

Mr Swinney says the £1billion hospital, opened with great fanfare by Ms Sturgeon, is perfectly safe – but how many Scots will be prepared to believe him?

These shameless hypocrites deserve a day of reckoning – and one is on the horizon on polling day in May. It’s time to put an end to this sick charade once and for all – and save Scotland from another five years of toxic SNP rule.