ANAS Sarwar was all prepped to deliver a killer line at FMQs.
Holding his piece of paper in hand, he was just itching to land the punchline written for him by some staffer.
“There are businesses that will be impacted by this that have longer cocktail menus than this document!”
However relevant his criticism of the Scottish Government vaccine passport plans may have been, his oven-ready witticism didn’t even raise a corner of the mouth of fellow Labour MSP Richard Leonard.
READ MORE: FMQs: Nicola Sturgeon picks apart Anas Sarwar's vaccine passport claims
But then, Leonard’s probably still not too happy about being ousted as leader only for Sarwar to go on and return Labour’s worst Holyrood election result since devolution.
Sarwar ploughed on, but his little quip wasn’t forgotten by the First Minister.
She responded: “I think most people watching this will probably breathe a sigh of relief that Anas Sarwar is not standing here.
“Clever quips might sound good in a student union, but when you’re actually trying to deal with a global pandemic it is more important that you have the solutions that help keep people safe.”
Sarwar did not like that. Quite happy to tell the jokes, he appeared just a little petulant at being called out for it.
“Childish”, he said to the First Minister. “Childish. Childish."
Three times he said it.
“Grow up,” was his next imaginative line (confirming if there was any doubt that he never wrote the “cocktail menu” joke to begin with).
He then looked to be about to say it again. But the camera cut away.
A poor moment amidst a poor performance from the Scottish Labour leader.
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