There was no doubt that Anas Sarwar was the most charismatic of all the Scottish party leaders at the Holyrood election last month.
At the Final Rally I heard him make a really powerful and eloquent speech and answer a host of questions from journalists with confidence and ease.
Meanwhile the SNP had to defend a record of incompetence and scandal with non-sailing ferries, declining NHS, failing educational standards and much more.
So why did Scottish Labour lose and the SNP get returned for a further record term?
The easy and now familiar excuse is to blame the unpopularity of Labour at Westminster and Sir Keir Starmer in particular. But that is scapegoating!
It is true that it was a factor and it, ironically, became increasingly so when Starmer was denounced, thus drawing more attention away from Holyrood and the appalling SNP record.
OPINION
But it is also a cop out. The Scottish Labour campaign hoped that the contest would be based on the character of Scottish leaders alone and so had no really bold and attractive policy proposals in our manifesto.
For example, it was suggested they propose a plan to build tunnels to replace the failing ferries to and between the islands as in the Faroes but this was rejected for no good reason.
These would provide access not dependent on weather conditions, paid for by tolls and simultaneously highlighted the SNP ferry fiasco.
They should also have considered proposing a public bus network for Glasgow, like the excellent ones in Edinburgh and Manchester but this was overlooked and no-one explains why.
Other suggestions which could have won us more support like tax reform, community schools, directly elected “Mayors” and major land reform seem to have been overlooked.
So now we are faced with five more years of SNP rule with its secrecy and incompetence, shown again dramatically by the media “pen” at Holyrood.
But, ironically, it is the Scottish Conservatives, who have shown in Aberdeen South that the SNP can be defeated with the right policies for the area and a candidate to articulate them well.
And Scottish Labour should not sit back for the next few years but need to reflect on why we lost and take action now to sort it, for we face local elections next year and possible by-elections.
One suggestion is to separate the Scottish Party from the UK Labour Party but that does not deal with the fundamental problem as we have now all the power needed to produce a bold and innovative manifesto on all the devolved areas.
One precedent worth looking at is Edinburgh Corporation in the 1970’s. The so-called Progressives, really the Tories in disguise, had been in power for ever and the Labour Group seemed to accept being in opposition, happy to draw their allowances, while there was fee-paying and selection in Council schools and plans for an inner- ring road to pass through the Meadows and Princes Street.
A group of young activists, including Robin Cook, Sandy Ross and yours truly, took over the party, got elected and Labour gained control of Edinburgh Corporation for the first time ever.
Article continues below
We elected Jack Kane as the first Labour Lord Provost, cancelled the ring road and ended fee paying and selection and introduced comprehensive education.
Of course it is not a direct comparison but it does show that bold policies and dynamic leadership can make a real difference.
Scottish Labour MSPs need to rise to the challenge now so that at the next Scottish Parliament election the debacles and cronyism of the SNP can be confined to the history books.