ONE of the world’s leading investment bankers has said that everything Boris Johnson’s Government does “shears away” the ties that bind the Union.

In an outspoken attack on the Prime Minister, Michael O’Sullivan, former managing director of Credit Suisse’s Private Banking and Wealth Management Division and author of the acclaimed book on the future of globalisation The Levelling, says that there will be a permanent split in the Tories.

In his latest blog, O’Sullivan says he believes “that the Tory Party will soon formally split, and that the nucleus of a new centrist party in British politics will be formed around the twenty one MP’s who were expelled from the Conservatives.”

The result could be a surge towards independence for Scotland. O’Sullivan wrote: “Another consequence is that the barriers to Scottish independence are falling.

“Most of the arguments deployed by Brexiteers for ‘taking back control’ appear logical in the case of Scottish independence.

“Everything the Johnson government does shears away at the moral and emotional ties between London and Scotland. Moreover, the departure of Ruth Davidson as head of the Scottish Tory Party will hand back a number of seats to the SNP.

“The challenge for Nicola Sturgeon now is to convince Scots that the SNP can execute new policy ideas that will make Scotland more stable economically, and richer in terms of human development.

“Then, both the Irish government and the EC will feel that their opposite numbers in London have no credibility and no sincerity. Whereas they were often puzzled by Theresa May, Boris Johnson has done nothing to encourage Brussels to trust him. That is a pity because once Britain leaves the EU, the truly complex business of negotiating its future relationship with the EU will only begin.

“This is apparently lost on the Johnson government.”

O’Sullivan adds: “ I did not think Boris Johnson would become Prime Minister, though there was a good chance that this might happen. Further, given everything that has happened with Brexit so far, it was still hard to imagine that in a few weeks his government has managed to effectively destroy the Tory Party, the Union and the very large stock of goodwill that Britain has built up with neighbouring countries”.

He concludes: “There is an emerging theme in public life that the consequences of bad behaviour are in many cases low. There are many instances, Jeffrey Epstein is the latest, where individuals have engaged in enabled, persistent abuse. Politics is sadly becoming similar.

“The world stage is increasingly replete with examples, with little distinction between leaders in emerging or developed countries.

“In time, very bad, divisive behaviour in politics hits its limits and is sanctioned. What is disappointing is that those limits are being stretched to breaking point.”