THE Establishment, a tour de force work by English columnist Owen Jones, exposes the arrogance and corruptions of those who run Britain. It tracks the media barons, tax-dodging companies, lobbyists, financiers and politicians who dominate public life.

You probably remember that establishment from the independence referendum. Its decrees were repeated ad nauseum. The underlying theme was simple: “We’re in charge. We know best. Leave it to us.”

But there was a glaring omission from Jones’s work, a northern pothole. It failed to mention the ancient, and now growing, Scottish establishment that dominates spheres of public life in its own regard.

The universities. The law officers. The land owners. The corporate interests. The growing list of lobbying firms eager to sink their teeth into an empowered Scottish Parliament. They all represent well-oiled, media-savvy, wealthy elite interests. While this culture is even more prevalent at Westminster, it is wrong to pretend that Scotland too regularly falls foul of what Kevin McKenna recently described as “unearned elitism and a sense of entitlement”. And it’s that deep-seated inequality of power that blocks necessary social reform.

It’s the Scottish legal establishment that has dragged its heals over reforming short-term prison sentences. Universities Scotland, which represents senior management in education, has recently started a targeted push-back against the Higher Education Governence (Scotland) Bill – which was welcomed by university workers. In the case of land reform, Scottish Land and Estates pours resources into representing the tiny group of heredity owners who control rural land. A mixture of hyperbolic media claims, intensive lobbying and some legal threat have been enough to dampen the current Land Reform Bill proposed to the Scottish Parliament.

Land owned in tax havens, for instance the land on Jura registered in the Virgin Islands by Altar Properties Limited, would be untouched by the Bill.

The existence of a conservative establishment in Scotland is not the fault of the SNP. But, as a party now claiming to represent a mass movement for popular change, it does have a responsibility to confront the unearned elitism in Scottish society.

When the party meets in Aberdeen this week it will be buoyed by opinion polls, with eyes set on victory next May. But victory for what purpose? Some diehards see the SNP predominantly as the best vehicle for independence and Scotland’s "national interest". Others are content to talk up "a record of competent Government" in the face of a unionist omnishambles trinity.

Both strategies raise the risk of inevitable stagnation if the SNP Government trundles beyond a decade without a second referendum before 2020. The conservative conference agenda in Aberdeen suggests the party’s leadership is complacently losing any radical edge and joining the very Scottish establishment it should be challenging.

Former head of policy for the SNP, Alex Bell, said as much this week. He raised the problem of tightly orchestrated debates and the need for a renewed policy agenda following the referendum defeat. Surprisingly, it’s Margaret Thatcher who may hold the answer. Her strategy, while disastrous for millions of people, was genius in presenting itself as "anti-establishment". She took on trade unions, the teaching establishment, social security, the one nation conservatives – alongside much fake outrage towards the European project.

In doing so she presented herself as an outsider, courageously pushing for "reform" of unaccountable, stale bureaucracies. Over the next five years Scotland will gain more powers, and the bogeyman of Westminster will, to an extent, become less and less relevant.

It will be no better time for the SNP to become less fixated with being a national party willing to pacify both vested interests and popular demands. Nicola Sturgeon and the tens of thousands of new party members should place themselves on the side of the public good against the complacency and elitism of the Scottish establishment. When Raytheon, one of the world’s largest arms companies, comes asking for Scottish public money, tell them to get tae. When profit-making companies like DF Concerts want a subsidy, perhaps ask for them to pay their own bills. When Serco or Anglian Water bid for public contracts reject them for the state-owned alternative who can pay their staff and taxes.

And, if the SNP can get serious in their opposition to corporate excess, that means reviewing their policy on North Sea tax cuts to multinationals which have taken billions out of Scotland. It means stepping back from a new cosy relationship with the anti-Scotland CBI business lobby. It means taking a far more critical approach to the environmental dangers of Cluff Energy and Ineos when they propose big business fracking and coal extraction. The four richest families in Scotland own as much as the bottom 20 per cent of the population. It’s not enough to promote Scotland against Westminster. A party with the people at its heart must confront the establishment that blocks change at home.