James Millar: Tory tenors are in discord as Stephen Gethins hits the high notes

In any opera it’s the heavyweights that have the biggest voices.

David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove – all carry some political heft, and when they open their mouths they generally command attention.

So surely the SNP would send their own tenor into the fray, Alex Salmond?

No.

The party’s Europe spokesman is the reedy Stephen Gethins.

He used to work for the party in Brussels so he knows the subject inside out. And he’s smart, friendly and unassuming – not words that spring to mind when describing the former First Minister.

The SNP have a tricky path to tread through the Euro nonsense David Cameron has concocted.

Of course the party is rabidly pro-EU.

Independence within the EU – which critics claim is hardly independence at all – has been their motto for many years.

But a distinct set of circumstances around the EU referendum could quickly open up the opportunity for another independence referendum.

If the UK votes for Brexit but Scotland votes to stay in, then there would at the very least be a constitutional headache.

Plenty in the SNP see such a scenario as an automatic trigger for a second separation vote.

So while the SNP say they favour an In vote there have been whispers that they aren’t campaigning very hard for that result.

Accusations utterly rejected by Gethins, who points out that there’s the small matter of the Holyrood elections to focus on first.

But it’s this sort of reasonable and subtle approach that makes Stephen Gethins the man for the task. He’s plausible, too.

It may seem a former First Minister would carry more credibility than Gethins who’s only ever been a party apparatchik.

But to understand why that’s not the case, simply listen to Salmond’s weekly radio show.

Last week he covered whether the Queen actually purrs, terrorists sneaking into the country and the merits of pole dancing.

No wonder an SNP staffer texted as Salmond went off air: “I need a drink”.

Salmond has an ego.

That seems to set him apart from his SNP colleagues in Westminster.

Alex’s ambition may not quite be sated yet, but the new breed of SNP MP appears only to thirst for independence, not power.

The SNP six, who were MPs this time last year, are ripe for knocking over.

Some stand out – Stewart Hosie has an uncanny command of financial figures, for example – others are workmanlike at best.

And yet challenge comes there none.

The party is comfortable fielding the likes of Hannah Bardell and John Nicolson to make high-profile media appearances on Question Time.

But there are other talents constrained in the chorus line who could take on starring roles.

Glasgow South MP Stewart McDonald seems to have inherited a maverick streak from Labour predecessor Tom Harris, though thankfully not the sci-fi obsession.

Callum McCaig’s experience running Aberdeen council would make him a better energy select committee chairman than professional heckler Angus Brendan MacNeil.

Joanna Cherry is razor-sharp but how long before she’s bored and pondering plunging the knife into one of the party baron’s backs like opera’s Tosca?

The SNP has assembled a cast of characters who’ve really only been learning their lines over the last few months.

Now the spotlight is there, it’s a question of who can resist and who really wants it and what they are prepared to do to steal the limelight.

The EU opera may be the big draw just now but there may yet be melodrama to come in the SNP show.

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