THE Ukrainian leader is a professional comedian turned politician. The UK leader is a professional politician turned comedian.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was regarded as one of Ukraine's best comedic actors and now he's regarded as a successful and effective politician. Liz Truss was a mediocre politician, and now she's even worse as a comedian.

Truss had a vacuous and robotic interview with LBC's Nick Ferrari which was grotesquely unprofessional even by the dismal standards we have come to expect of her as Truss giggled and ahemmed her way through the questioning. She refused to answer questions about some of her conversations with people who may be giving her advice on public policy, claiming that they were “private conversations”. It was another moment when the sheer arrogance of Truss's ambition collided with reality, and reality won. 

It has only been a month but already it's obvious that this is a prime minister who would be out of her depth in a pavement puddle. This is the worst government ever seen in our lifetimes, and we all lived through the second worst and the third worst, which were not too long ago.

Truss's performance in interviews has been called robotic, which is unfair to robots, as they are sophisticated machines. Truss is more like one of those dolls you get where you pull a string on their back and they keep repeating two or three phrases over and over.

Yesterday, Truss deigned to tell us that there “shouldn't be” another Scottish independence referendum even if the UK Supreme Court rules that it would be lawful for Holyrood to hold a referendum without a Section 30 order from her. First, the Tories told us that they would oppose an “illegal” referendum – now they are also determined to oppose a lawful one.

Yet Truss went further, and in a brazen rewriting of recent history, intoned that "we agreed" the 2014 referendum was to be a once in a generation event.

Eh? "We agreed" no such thing. There was campaign rhetoric from the Scottish Government of the day that the referendum was a once-in-a-generation opportunity – rhetoric intended to boost voter participation. There was no agreement to that effect between the Scottish and British governments, and there’s nothing in the Edinburgh Agreement about the referendum being once in a generation. But even if there was, in a democracy, the agreements of politicians cannot bind the electorate. 

The reason that the current Scottish Government is pushing for another independence referendum is because that is what the people of Scotland elected it to do. The hums, haws, equivocations and goalpost-shifting of the Better Together parties notwithstanding, we all knew what we were voting for in the Holyrood election of last year.

Labour, the LibDems and the Tories stood on a platform of opposition to another referendum and failed dismally to come close to winning a majority. The SNP and the Scottish Greens stood on a platform of support for another referendum and won a majority. There must be a referendum if democracy in Scotland is to have any meaning.

However, perhaps more shocking than Truss's attempt to rewrite recent history was the fact that the interviewer did not challenge her on her factually incorrect assertion. You can sort of understand Truss not realising what actually went on in the Edinburgh Agreement because she gives off the very strong vibes of a supremely self-absorbed android who pays no attention to anything not directly related to her self-promotion and getting her a photo-shoot in Vogue. Her interviewer had no such excuse.

The truth is, Truss's opinion is irrelevant. If the Supreme Court rules in the Scottish Government's favour, there will be a referendum, whether Truss wants one or not. If it rules against, the next UK General Election in Scotland becomes a de facto referendum and there will be absolutely nothing Truss can do to prevent it.

But just a few short weeks into her tenure in office, Truss is already in serious trouble with her parliamentary party – a significant part of which is in open rebellion against her. On Tuesday, Truss pointedly dodged a question about whether she has confidence in the man she appointed as her chancellor just a couple of weeks ago. Truss's view on another referendum is irrelevant because on present form she will be out on her ear by Christmas.

This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.

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