PRIME Minister Boris Johnson is in Scotland, hiding at Faslane Naval Base and floundering when asked questions about Scottish independence.
You would think that for someone who claims to value the Union so highly, and who is apparently the best the Tory party has to offer, would find simple questions on it quite easy.
Apparently not.
On his first visit to Scotland as PM, Johnson was asked if he would rule out an indpendence referendum while he is in power
In his reply, he appeared unsure even of how many indyrefs there had actually been.
READ MORE: Tory MP says Boris Johnson is visiting the 'region' of Scotland
Johnson said: “In 2014 there was a historic vote. I think it was the only one there’s been in my lifetime that I can remember? Yes, it was.
“The only vote on Scottish independence that I can remember in my lifetime, and I’m 55, is the only time it’s happened. It was decisive. There was, I think, at least a 10-point margin."
The Union is so important, says Johnson ... so important that he stumbles trying to remember how many independence referendums have been.
These aren't little votes in the House of Commons, either. Independence referendums are massive events, and Johnson would be dragged into being part of pro-Union campaign team ... so it speaks volumes that his memory was so fuzzy on this.
He was at least partly right with the margin of the vote – though it wasn't "at least a 10-point margin", it was a 10-point margin. Recent polls paint a rather difference picture, however, and not one Unionists like. And that's before the Boris Johnson effect has fully kicked in – with one poll finding that factor could take Yes to 53%.
Answering the original question, and showing characteristic contempt for Scotland's democratic will, he continued: “Everybody made clear at the time, in 2014, even the Scottish Nationalist Party [sic] I seem to recollect, said that this was a once in a generation vote, and I think that the confidence of the public in politicians would be undermined yet further if we were to go back on that and hold another referendum. It was clear, it was decisive.
"The Union is the most successful political partnership anywhere in the world, let’s keep it going.”
We wouldn't like to see the second-most successful, if this is the best...
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