(Image: Graphic: Derek McArthur)
It certainly didn't take long for Amanda Bland to fall out with her party.
Ms Bland was elected as a Reform MSP just over five months ago and on Monday announced she was quitting to sit as an independent in Holyrood.
The Central Scotland MSP has so far remain tight-lipped about why she had decided to leave Nigel Farage's party. Unnamed insiders suggested office management issues rather than ideological or policy differences were to blame.
In time I expect Ms Bland will have to provide a fuller explanation for her reason to exit Reform.
It was, I believe, a record fast resignation from a party to sit as an independent by any MSP in the Scottish Parliament's history.
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Most MSPs who leave their parties - either to sit as an independent of defect to another party - usually take years to do so.
Fergus Ewing, for instance, was first elected in 1999 as an SNP before finally announcing in 2025 that he would sit as an independent.
The late Margo MacDonald was first elected as an SNP MSP in 1999, before becoming an independent in 2003.
Ash Regan took years for both of her decisions to split. She was elected as an SNP in 2016 before defecting to Alba in 2023 and then after falling out with Alba sitting as an independent from 2025.
And then of course there was Graham Simpson.
Mr Simpson was first elected to Holyrood as a Scottish Conservative MSP for Central Scotland in 2016 before sensationally jumping ship to Reform in August last year, announcing the decision while he appeared at a press conference in Scotland alongside Mr Farage.
At the time the Central Scotland MSP resisted calls to quit Holyrood to allow another Conservative on the party's regional list to take his place.
The episode is now rather conveniently forgotten by Reform which is demanding Ms Bland stands down from Holyrood to allow a new Reform MSP to take her place.
Party leader Malcolm Offord - himself a Conservative to Reform defector having been appointed as a Tory peer in 2021 before moving to Reform in December 2025 - on Tuesday accused Ms Bland of squatting in the seat
“The reality is that she came in on the Reform ticket, and 385,000 Scots voted for reform and voted for 17 MSPs," he told BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday morning.
“She’s now proposing to squat in a list place won by Reform for four and a half years.
“It just looks to the voting public – I would say there’s a distinction between a constituency MSP where you have won I would say a personal mandate.
“If you’re a list MSP, you’re listed there just on the vote for the party.”
Mr Offord's case would be stronger had Mr Simpson stood down from Holyrood when he decided to leave the Conservatives, rather than continue in parliament as a Reform MSP.
Ms Bland departure from Reform is a huge blow for Mr Offord as not only has he lost an MSP but his party's place as Holyrood's joint second largest party with Labour, which also saw it win 17 Holyrood seats in May.
If there is any compensation to Reform, this may not be a situation that lasts until 2031.
During the last Parliament Labour lost two MSPs with both Colin Smyth and Foysol Choudhury losing the party whip and latterly sitting as independents.
Should Labour again lose two MSPs, Reform would return to be the second largest party - if it can manage to hold onto its remaining 16 MSPs.
The situation illustrates that size wise there is little separating Labour and Reform and the Greens in Holyrood. The Greens have 15 MSPs.
Such closeness in numbers will, I think, be an important aspect of the current Parliament with those three parties in a position where they may find themselves jostling to be number two to the SNP.
Their leaders will be mindful and keen to prevent any of their MSPs from straying, rebelling or misbehaving.
Keeping their MSPs happy inside the parties which saw them elected will be vital, and challenging.