WHO could have predicted that in the inadequacies of the Scottish Conservative Party we would find one of the strongest arguments for independence yet?
Yes, we all know that Boris Johnson’s dithering indecency has done wonders for the case for Scotland’s exit from the Union – but an argument based on the actions of one man is as fleeting as the scandal itself. In the abject humiliation of the Scottish Tories, however, lies a more solid representation of Scotland’s relationship with Westminster.
Like a cockroach strapped to a nuclear bomb, I fully suspect that Johnson will survive this fraught period as Prime Minister for now, even as he devastates the land around him; a realisation that must have also dripped like ice down the spine of the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross in recent days.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross in a ‘humiliating climbdown’ over call for Boris Johnson to resign
Having called for Johnson’s resignation at a time when Ross thought it politically advantageous and safe to do so, the Tory leader is now facing the fallout. Johnson, once uninvited from speaking at the upcoming Scottish Tory conference, is back on the bill.
If reports are to be believed, the softening of Douglas Ross’ opposition to Johnson remaining as leader began after he received a handwritten birthday card from the Prime Minister to mark his 39th birthday in January. Setting aside the irony of a birthday card being the catalyst of the Scottish Tory leader’s change of heart over Partygate allegations, I’m left wondering if that is really all it takes for a Tory to forgive the blatant breaches of Covid guidelines that Johnson is behind.
If only all conflicts could be resolved so easily.
I have a suspicion, however, that the real and altogether more embarrassing reasons for falling in line are two-fold: an irrational obligation to protect the Union, and recognition of one’s place within it.
It isn’t exactly an easy feat to make the case for remaining under the thumb of Johnson’s democracy-bashing administration when you yourself have publicly called for your leader’s resignation – yet how could Douglas Ross now argue for anything other than an enduring Union with the floppy fool sitting atop his throne? To do otherwise would undermine the United Kingdom’s alleged strength and his party’s future.
Forming a separate party obviously cannot be on the cards either, as it would be impossible to argue for a political union to exist where a simple cross-border party cannot; not with the Conservative’s particular brand of muscular Unionism at any rate. And now Unionist ideology meets political reality.
Ross knows that Boris Johnson and the corrupt politicians in his orbit are an anathema to the Scottish public – and yet the rules of his Unionist creed means he must argue that they are proper and right to govern Scotland regardless. With the council elections just around the corner, this cognitive dissonance is set to only get louder.
This situation leaves right-wingers arguing for a status quo that even they recognise is actively damaging to Scotland, all in subservience to the Union. During a Westminster-driven cost of living crisis, that is an unforgivable position; to be so ready to sacrifice the Scottish public to the flames of right-wing British nationalism.
To argue for the Union, Ross must defend and promote that which he knows to be a lie, a political institution that protects and bolsters the wealth of its friends while shedding human rights – and that is as strong a case for independence as any other. That for as long as we remain tied to Westminster, conservative cheerleaders of the Union will always put their political agenda above the needs of the Scottish public. Unionism demands we remain ideologically tethered to Johnson’s circus even when we can see how bad it is, all for the sake of preserving what little remains of the British Empire.
More pitiful though is the extent to which the Scottish Tories have been reminded by their own colleagues of their place within this monstrous framework.
Ross’s damascene conversion is all very reminiscent of when Ted Cruz slimed his way into the spotlight to defend Donald Trump even after he threatened to “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife and implied that his father had somehow been involved with the assassination of JFK.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross 'has always been a lightweight', Jacob Rees-Mogg says
Now the Scottish branch manager is back on the party train after being called a political lightweight by Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, and having Michael Gove mock his impotence by quipping that “he’s in Elgin and the national Tory leader is in London”.
Rees-Mogg doesn’t even appear to recognise the role of the Scottish Tory leader at all, instead putting more importance on the UK Government position of Secretary of State for Scotland than on the Scottish party leader; an admission of how little recognition there is of political structures outwith the dominance of Westminster.
Reminded of his place in the British hierarchy, tail firmly tucked and admonished, Douglas Ross has pitifully taken up the mantle of Westminster lapdog once more, even as his boss plans a Scotland excursion without him.
The party of the Union’s crumbling disunity has revealed more on the internal state of British politics than Ross or Johnson will ever admit. For as long as we remain bound in this political union, its British nationalist advocates will always prioritise the survival of the United Kingdom above and beyond the interests of those trapped within it.
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