WEDNESDAY was the hottest September day in Scotland since 1906.

It was lovely but short-lived. Thursday kicked off with the far more familiar thunderstorms and rain.

FMQs began with an event just as rare as the record-breaking September temperatures: Douglas Ross gave quite a good performance for a change.

He asked about recent figures which show that the average wait time for an ambulance is around six hours. Nicola Sturgeon said that the median response time in recent weeks for the "most urgent" calls was around 9 minutes, but acknowledged that the long wait times of the individual cases cited by Mr Ross was "not acceptable".

READ MORE: FMQs: Nicola Sturgeon picks apart Anas Sarwar's vaccine passport claims

Mr Ross’s questions were timely and necessary. While his performance may have been an unexpected ray of sunshine, the forecast for the Scottish Labour leader looked bleak.

Anas Sarwar began by confirming that his party will be voting against the introduction of vaccine passports.

"Can the First Minister tell us, what evidence has led her and her ministers to change their minds, disagree with the scientists and now back vaccine passports?" 

The National:

The First Minister said that she hadn’t changed her mind at all. She said that she had never ruled out vaccine certification as a way to help reduce the potential for super-spreader events.

"We’ve got to take all of the ways that we can to, as proportionately as possible, keep the country as safe as possible and that’s the responsible way in which this government is going to continue to act.

"I think some of what we’ve heard from the opposition suggests that a bit more genuine grown-up politics on this issue would go a long way."

Anas Sarwar took issue with the First Minister’s jibe about "grown-up politics".

So much so, that he decided to misquote what she had said and accuse her of directing the misquote at the public, rather than him.

"I have respect for all of the First Minister’s answer, apart from the end part of that", he said.

"Is she saying that all those businesses worried out there are being disrespectful? Is she saying that the THOUSANDS of people that have emailed us are being disrespectful?"

Well … no. She isn’t and she didn’t. But when has a politician ever let reality stand in the way of an opportunity to grandstand?

"I did make a comment about Anas Sarwar’s position – it wasn’t a comment about anybody else’s position", replied the First Minister.

Anas Sarwar went on to say that the proposals put forward by the Scottish Government provided no evidence that vaccine certification would make a difference.

"She references nightclubs – this document suggests that we still don’t even know what nightclubs means!" 

If Michael Gove can correctly identify what a nightclub is surely it’s not beyond the wit of Scottish Labour to do so too?

It was becoming clear that Mr Sarwar was not at all happy with that document.

The National:

"There are businesses that will be impacted by this that have longer cocktail menus than this document!"

He might have practiced the joke before FMQs but it was obvious from the tumbleweed blowing across the chamber that his backbenchers hadn’t rehearsed their response.

The First Minister fired back: "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’s more important that you have the solutions that help to keep people safe.’’

Anas Sarwar could be seen muttering "childish … grow up!" to the First Minister as she was speaking but she didn’t seem terribly bothered.