IT was class war, but not as we know it.
FMQs began with BP boss Bob Dudley, an American who presumably loves independence at home but on Tuesday said it was all wrong for Scotland.
A TV camera jammed in his puss, Alex Salmond had insisted that "many, many" other chief executives did want a Yes vote.
Labour's Johann Lamont smelled a bluff: could the FM name any from an oil company such as BP?
Mr Salmond's expression betrayed a mental Rolodex of pristine and unending blankness.
"Eh, there are hundreds of people in Business For Scotland," he offered, referring to the Yes campaign offshoot for sole traders and above.
Ms Lamont twice more demanded names - in vain - and threw in a quote from the head of Sainsbury's about independence making Scotland a dearer place to run a grocery business.
The SNP backbenches, already bridling at that B in BP, started whinnying their disapproval.
The FM burst into a gallop and charged.
"Johann Lamont has talked about nothing else but the political elite," he cried hotly.
"Do not cite the elite; cite the people of Scotland who are rallying to independence!"
Slack-jawed Labour MSPs did a double-take. This was Alex Salmond talking, wasn't it?
The luxury hotel junkie with the official residence, five pensions, a trembling entourage and his herd of pedigree chauffeurs?
The one Rupert Murdoch's got on speed dial?
Yet suddenly here was Eck Guevara attacking the business titans his previous incarnation had sucked up to for years.
It was as bizarre as it was panicky.
Ms Lamont's heroic struggle was not to laugh.
Like all revolutions, it didn't last.
Pressed by Ruth Davidson and Willie Rennie on the shambolic reform of corroboration, Alex Salmond immediately turned to the elite for rescue.
Not to fear, he said, Lord Bonomy was on the case, a judge of undisputed "distinction".
It was like a 30-minute version of Animal Farm.
The SNP MSPs looked from elitist Salmond to Leninist Salmond, and from Leninist Salmond to elitist Salmond again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article