MURDO Fraser is like a Scottish Twitter version of Boris Johnson: a bumbling buffoon who somehow gets away with it.

In his latest outburst, the Tory MSP dished out quite a spectacular tweet, appearing to jump on the Donald Trump bandwagon while his boss Ruth Davidson was busy condemning the US President's failure to denounce American neo-Nazis – although, before we all start applauding, her rhetoric would mean a lot more if she took on big boss Theresa May over Trump's future state visit.

In a hastily deleted tweet, Fraser wrote: "How much longer will we tolerate the statue of the brutal tyrant and oppressor Charles II in Parliament Square, Edinburgh?"

The tweet was evidently a nod to the horrific events in Charlottesville, where anti-fascist protesters confronted a rightwing rally descending on the town to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee. While everyone else was reeling from the news of 32-year-old anti-fascist Heather Heyer's killing after a car ploughed into a group of protesters, Fraser was wondering whether anyone would think of the statues.

A Charles II – former king of Scotland, England and Ireland in the 1600s – reference was the best Fraser could muster to draw a tenuous connection between distressing world events and Scottish history. Not content with talking about Scottish independence at every given opportunity during this year's elections, unionist Fraser's disdain for Scottish self-determination – or perhaps just Scotland itself – is strong enough even to attempt using the rise of far-right politics as a cheap shot to rile up his opponents on Twitter.

As Trump concocted blame upon the "alt-left" for the actions of rightwing madmen on America's streets, Fraser appeared to be adopting the tone of a lovestruck puppy in order to take a swipe closer to home.

The fact you're unlikely even to know this happened on Twitter exposes the hypocrisy of so much of our commentariat, because you can be damn sure if a pro-indy politician was going down the same road it would be hitting front pages.

But it's just silly old Murdo, isn't it? Not to be taken too seriously, old boy. Just a jolly bit of banter and verbal sparring.

It's just like Boris Johnson and the verbal diarrhoea he has inflicted on the world over the years – like describing Commonwealth citizens as "flag-waving piccaninnies" and slapping the “part-Kenyan” label on Barack Obama. And look at where he ended up: he helped lead the UK to a Brexit Scotland didn't vote for and was rewarded with a post as Foreign Secretary, much to the world's amusement – and horror.

He likes his royal tweets, does our Murdo, who has landed himself in hot water before on Twitter for posting before engaging his brain.

In 2016 he faced a backlash following a Glasgow football derby when he tweeted: "Rangers 5 Celtic 4 – The Queen's 11 deliver Her Majesty the perfect Birthday present #ScottishCup #GSTQ."

It was exactly what we all needed after such a tense game took place and emergency services were on alert: an actual MSP bringing jubilant royal politics into the equation while authorities were trying to keep the lid on the scourge of bigotry in Scotland. Try that in a Scottish football stadium these days and you'd be liable for arrest, but a Tory politician does it on Twitter and the very same types who demonise working-class football fans for vulgarity titter and smirk.

We probably should be calling on Ruth Davidson to rein Fraser in, give him a ticking off and teach him the count-to-10-before-you-tweet method, but I say let him roam free – let's just make sure he's held to account for his nonsense instead of waving our hands at daft old Murdo's antics.

It doesn't matter how nonsensical some of our politicians are, if they're privileged enough they've got a pretty good chance of a comfortable, lengthy career regardless of their bloopers. We have a terrible deferential habit of accepting the entitlement of some individuals no matter how much they bend the codes of political decency while often holding the lower classes to a much higher, often impossible, standard.

Standing up to Trump and his ilk can feel dauntingly huge, but actually it doesn't have to be. There are individuals much closer to home who should be setting alarm bells ringing, so let's get down to dealing with them and play our part in cleaning this world up.