Hello and welcome to the political party. Today's guest is Ash Regan, who's standing to be the next leader of the SMP and the next First Minister of Scotland. Obviously, Cape Forbes was on the show a couple of weeks ago.

Ash is on the show today. Before I come on to that, just to let you know my next guests at the live shows at the Duchess Theatre in London are as follows. On the 20th of March, I'm joined by Channel 4 News' Christian and Guru Murthy, one of the most talented broadcasters in the country. On the 3rd of April, I'm joined by the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson.

And that will be just a few days after the SMP have chosen their new leaders. So that will be a great night to discuss Scottish politics. On the 17th of April, the mega star that is, Jess Phillips, on the 22nd of May.

Oh my word, the new Labour heavyweight that is David Blunkett on the 5th of June, former Chancellor, Philip Hammond, who gives very few interviews. So that will be a real rare opportunity to see one of the most influential people in the Conservative Party in the country, up close and personal.

The live and direct at the Duchess Theatre can get tickets for all those shows by clicking the link that I've put in the blurb. On to today's show with Ash Regan, who's been thrust into the spotlight, I guess all three of the candidates have.

But I always try to find a polite word. They're opponents really in this term. I always try and say colleagues, because we've been in the same party and they're running against each other, but obviously in this contest, they're opponents, even if they're friendly with each other.

Whereas Kate Forbes and Humza Youssef perhaps had a bit more profile, Humza Youssef, especially before the contest, Ash Regan has done this with a little less profile.

So we do talk about that at the start, just to almost away the culture shock of being all of a sudden in a battle to be the next leader of the country in which you live. It's a big deal.

We also talk in detail about Ash's plans for independence, for what if Westminster says no to her plan and her plan to refresh the SMP, and just a lot of other stuff about the culture of the party, the things that she thinks needs to change, the way that the SMP would make the case for independence if she was leader and a whole lot of other stuff as well.

And it's always interesting to talk to people who are in a leadership contest because the rest of the time, obviously there's a sense of collective responsibility in a leadership contest.

People still have their loyal to this, but in a leadership contest, you really get a sense of more where people stand because they're they're telling you more about what they really believe and you get a sense of what are the different wings within a political party.

And where is the central gravity within a party and obviously as we talk about other political parties have been through this, we're not more regularly, the Labour party in the Tory party obviously.

And then you always get that it tells you where the membership is and that's what's so fascinating about this that really this is the first time for a very long time because Nicholas Dungeon was effectively elected and opposed that the SMP has had a leadership contest.

It's a real unique opportunity to test the opinion of the members of the party that runs Scotland.

So there's a whole load in this and I will now stop rattling on and enjoy Ash Regan.

The lights are drawn by Ash Regan is standing to be the next lead with the SMP, the next First Minister of Scotland.

Ash, I mean, the last couple of weeks must have been a whirlwind for you. Are you enjoying the process of standing for the leadership?

It has been a whirlwind. I think probably more for me than for the others because I did not go into politics.

You know, I got elected in 2016 and I didn't go in there with my, I think some people go in, right. I'm just, I'm not giving away trade secrets here, but some people go in and you can clearly see from the beginning they've got their eye on that top job and they maneuver and they do certain things in order to get themselves into that position.

I'm not going to name any names here, but I think you might have an idea for him to talk about. Anyway, I never did that.

I mean, you can tell that from my social media output, you know, for things I've got involved and I just did my job and went home and lived my life, you know.

I got to the point though. I mean, obviously you'll know all the stuff that went over the gender reform and everything and I started to feel that the leadership, my view of the leadership was that we lost our way on a few things.

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