WHAT is often interesting in politics is not what politicians say but what they don’t say.
Boris Johnson again yesterday derided the SNP for its continual demand for a second shot at Scottish independence, saying it was “incredible” that at such a time of national crisis, the Nationalists’ main priority was to pick another political fight.
However, what the Prime Minister has yet to say explicitly is that, post the Holyrood election in May, he would refuse to facilitate another referendum to break up Britain.
Indeed, a strong line of emphasis in his speech to the virtual Scottish Conservative conference was that what was needed to stop Indyref2 was not a simple refusal from him as keeper of the constitutional keys but a strong performance from the Tories to prevent Nicola Sturgeon emulating Alex Salmond and securing a Nationalist majority on May 6.
Why doesn’t Mr Johnson say that whatever happens at the Holyrood poll, given 2014 was a once-in-a-generation opportunity, he will just say no, as his former Government colleague George Osborne urged him to do a few days ago?
Could it be that the PM believes, as some of his other Tory colleagues do, that if the SNP were to get a majority, then he would have no practical choice but to follow David Cameron’s example and cave into Nicola Sturgeon’s demands?
Post the departure of the Vote Leave campaigners from Downing St – Cummings, Cain and Lewis – the dovish faction appears to have taken over with their “love and reconciliation” strategy. So, after the extra billions of cash flowing northwards, today we get news of more than 1,000 UK Government jobs set for Scotland. The love-bombing has begun.
Indeed, Michael Gove, who will be in Glasgow today to trumpet the plan for a second Cabinet HQ in the city with 500-plus jobs, has chosen his words carefully. He spoke of ending the “Westminster-knows-best approach to policymaking” and promising to ensure “Scottish voices shape everything we do”.
With what former Cabinet minister Liam Fox last week described as the “circus maximus” of the Sturgeon/Salmond feud, and other woes the SNP is suffering from, Tory tails are rising as the polls begin to show things are moving in the Conservatives’ direction.
Not only have the last six snapshots put the No campaign ahead but the latest opinion poll on voting preference has placed Mr Johnson’s party ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s. Given the health and economic blight of the pandemic, alarm bells must be ringing in Labour HQ.
It seems, for the moment at least, the public is giving the PM the benefit of the doubt.
The love-bombing could well go on for some time. Two reports are due out soon on bettering relations between London and Edinburgh.
But the stakes are rising. What if Ms Sturgeon gets her majority, what will the Minister for the Union do?
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