Will winning the confidence vote be enough to save Hamza Yusuf?

The First Minister has previously faced criticism from within her own party over the impact of the SNP and Greens' approach to economic and social policy.

Mr Youssef knows that, and his bid to regain control of a narrative that is in danger of spinning away from him begins in Dundee on Friday.

He should have given a speech in Glasgow on “The Labor Market in an Independent Scotland”.

Instead Mr Yusuf was walking around a building site, trying to look purposeful in a hard hat and high-visibility suit.

“You ask people about housing and that's one of the main issues that comes to the door,” the First Minister told me.

Now, it's not the doormats he needs to convince. It is opposition politicians in the Scottish Parliament.

Holyrood has 63 Scottish National Party MSPs. There are 65 opposition MSPs.

If every opposition member voted against Mr Yusuf in a personal vote of confidence, he would lose and the political pressure to resign would be enormous, even though he would not be legally bound to do so.

If Mr Youssef can get any or all of the seven-strong Green Group to change their minds in opposing him, he may survive.

Another option is to enlist the support of his former SNP leadership rival Ash Regan, who defected to Alex Salmond's Alpha party in October.

Mrs. Reagan is setting a price for her patronage — and it's rising.

First he called for effective government, a renewed focus on freedom and action to protect the “dignity, safety and rights of women and children”.

Later, Mrs Regan took action to secure the future of the Grangemouth refinery in the Firth of Forth.

Mr Youssef is writing to Holyrood leaders of all parties, offering meetings to discuss “how to make a minority government work”.

Speaking to BBC News, Mrs Reagan indicated that was not enough.

He also revealed that he had not had a single conversation with Mr Yusuf since defeating him in the leadership race last spring.

Mrs Reagan said: “Some of the things he said about me last year when I was moving to a different political party showed that it's always wise to have that kind of professional respect for the people you work with.”

Mr Youssef described his former rival's departure from the SNP as “not a particularly big loss”.

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Central Scotland Green MSP Gillian Mackay backed the devolution deal, which was originally carried out in 2021 under Nicola Sturgeon.

“What the First Minister is essentially saying to us is, 'You're dumped, but can we still be friends?'

“I'm really, really sad,” Ms Mackay said, visibly in tears, adding: “We didn't want to be in this position, but the first minister put us here.”

From Mr Youssef, who said he sympathized with the ousted Green leaders Patrick Harvey and Lorna Slater from his government, there was a look of something close to regret about all that emotion.

He told me that he “didn't want to upset them” and that he understood why they were so angry.

Will he apologize in a letter to them?

In any case, back channels between the SNP and the opposition are already open.

Wheeling and dealing is going on.

After the Bute House deal collapsed, he described it as “a Faustian deal which would have sent us to the gates of electoral hell”.

How he won over the likes of Mr Ewing, Mrs Regan and former SNP Finance Secretary Kate Forbes to become leader.

To put it more bluntly: How can he survive a narrow confidence vote after a week of turmoil?

According to another senior source close to Mr Yusuf the answer was brutal – “He can't.”