EVEN if the Prime Minister finally emerges from his week of convenient isolation and decides that he’s going to resign - it won’t magically “save the Union” as some Tories and commentators seem to believe.
Boris Johnson stepping down isn’t going to end the conversation over Scottish independence or a referendum, it has been raging since before he came to power and will be there well after he’s gone.
Well, if he goes before 2023, as the PM doesn’t seem to show any signs of budging or contrition for the hurt and rage felt by the public over Number 10 staff partying into the long hours, while the rest of the country lived under restrictive Covid-19 measures.
READ MORE: Lord Dunlop calls on Boris Johnson to resign to save the Union
Tory peer Lord Dunlop has suggested that keeping the Union together requires a leadership quality that the PM doesn’t possess.
But Johnson is indicative of what the Tory party has become, populist and leaning further to the right, and many of those waiting in the wings to start their own leadership bid, like Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, will bring nothing new to the table.
Johnson is certainly “weakened” as Dunlop suggests, but the current Brexiteer ideology gripping the Tory party is stronger, and they’ll put that above anything else, just as they gleefully threaten to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol, despite what implications it may bring for the people living there.
Johnson hasn't been seen since last week's disastrous PMQs
Whether it’s a committee to save the Union or a council of devolved leaders, the attitude of the Tories towards the nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as essentially branch offices and lesser than those in power in Westminster, will remain the same whether it’s Johnson in charge or someone else.
You only have to look at Jacob Rees-Mogg’s all-out attack on Douglas Ross, after he called on Johnson to resign, to save the skin of his beloved PM to see where their priorities lie, and it's not winning over the Scottish electorate.
Many on the Unionist side of the debate will have been shocked at this denigrating of the Scottish Tory arm of the party, but it’s simply just another example of how top Tories, steeped in privilege and power, don’t and never will see Scotland or its politicians as equal.
READ MORE: Scottish Tories avoid BBC Sunday Show after Boris Johnson row
Strange, after Tory donor Malcolm Offord was ennobled and parachuted into the Scotland Office over elected Scottish Tory MPs last year - you think they would have caught on by now.
With suggestions of a break-away Tory party in Scotland to ease the damage caused by the fall-out, it’s obvious they are worried.
The Scottish Tories suddenly seeking independence is quite the twist to an already tumultuous 2022.
But this won’t work either - Prof John Curtice has already rubbished the idea - the Scottish Tories are inextricably linked with their UK counterparts, they are of course the “party of the Union” and have tied themselves tightly to that mast.
Some commentators have suggested Ross could lead a break-away Tory party in Scotland
With the UK Tories bringing in hard-line policies such as criminalising asylum seekers crossing the English Channel in migrant boats, voter ID laws which will disenfranchise millions, and cracking down on protests through the Policing Bill, removing Johnson might salvage some support with Tory voters in England, but it won’t fly here.
Johnson was already unpopular in Scotland, and a new face isn’t going to change the simple reality; a Tory Prime Minister is still a Tory Prime Minister and Scotland can do better.
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