THERE is a venerable column in Private Eye called OBN, which stands for the Order of the Brown Nose. It highlights sycophancy, particularly by people who have previously tried to bury an individual only to now praise him or her.
Yesterday many Scottish Tories qualified en masse for the OBN as they hurried to heap praise on new leader and Prime Minister-elect Boris Johnson.
These were some of the same Tories who last year took part in Operation Arse, a whispering campaign to wreck Johnson’s chances of becoming PM. Now they can wrestle with their change of heart in that ‘special place in hell’ reserved for Brexiteers without a plan and Unionists without a conscience.
READ MORE: Scots Tories forced to backtrack after failed operation
For here are just some of Johnson’s attitudes towards Scotland. Remember this from 2005?
“The Labour machine will try, at some point in the next few years, to insert Gordon Brown.
“That would be utterly outrageous, not just because he is a gloomadon-popping, interfering, high-taxing complicator of life, but mainly because he is a Scot, and government by a Scot is just not conceivable in the current constitutional context.”
In 2012 he said: “A pound spent in Croydon is far more valuable to the country, from a strict utilitarian calculus, than a pound spent in Strathclyde. Indeed, it would generate jobs and growth in Strathclyde far more effectively if you invested in Hackney, Croydon or other parts of London.”
Let’s deal with the poem... in 2004, while he was it’s editor, The Spectator published a poem by the late James Michie which was supposed to be satirical, apparently.
It described Scots as “tartan dwarves” who were “polluting our stock” and suggested that the country should be turned into a “ghetto” with the “verminous” inhabitants submitted for “extermination”.
Nobody got the joke, because Boris doesn’t do that sort of joke, as in this aside: “I’m very keen on a Barnett formula which does justice to Barnet with one T.”
That’s Barnet in North London
Last word from David Mundell: “Mr Johnson is not an asset for the Scottish Conservative Party. I don’t think people find that his behaviour is one that would endear him to voters.”
You probably never said a truer word, David. Enjoy your last day in office.
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