Johnson takes over Davidson's assault on Scotland

His ineffective wannabe northern nemesis is now firmly out of the way, spending more time with her tanks. The Boris size 10s are safely through the door of number 10. Now it’s Johnson’s turn to launch a plot.

Let’s call it “Operation Enrage Scotland” because it seems the new PM is really a bit peeved with we jocks. Of course he has a substantial axe to grind. He is still smarting from the Supreme Court judgement to uphold the Court of Session decision on his unlawful prorogation of parliament, a case led by SNP hero of the movement and the moment, Joanna Cherry MP QC.

His latest bully-boy tactics are focused on undermining the Scottish First Minister, when the UN rolls into Glasgow next year for the COP26 climate change summit.

READ MORE: Fury as PM says Sturgeon should not be at Scottish climate summit

It is a UK honour, boasted Boris, to a boozy Scots Tory fringe Conference event, and the summit will be garnished by Union flags. In reality Glasgow being chosen as the venue for the largest summit ever held in the UK is major kudos for the Scottish Government, whose strong commitment to tackling the climate crisis has not gone unnoticed across the globe.

Boris Johnson claimed the Scottish honour of being chosen for COP26 was a UK success

Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to recognise the climate emergency while investing in renewables and setting the most ambitious climate targets in our Disunited Kingdom. As far back as 2011 our country was granted the International Climate Change Leadership Award.

It would seem that Scotland is still leading the way – how inconvenient for the attention-grabbing man-child in Downing Street.

And so, the environmental movement might ask, what have the Tories every done for us? Not much is the answer, at least since David Cameron once hugged a huskie.

As is so typically Boris he won’t want this inconvenient truth exposed, especially in contrast to the success of Scotland. So he needs to move in and block any opportunities for our small nation to blow our trumpet and bask in some international limelight. He won’t pass up this chance to have a square go, to treat us with contempt, to undermine and ridicule our progress where Westminster has so manifestly failed.

What’s new? This contempt for Scotland is a tried and tested Tory technique. Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, spent her time as PM trying to put Scotland back in its box, with her little lapdog Mundell failing to stand up for our nation at every single, snivelling, humiliating step of the way.

Now Mundell has been well and truly defenestrated and Johnson has installed another plastic Mac, in the guise of Brexit yes-man Alastair Jack. Even Jackson “second hand” Carlaw, the interim Scottish Tory Leader, has moved on message.

In a toe curling interview at the weekend he ditched his old boss’s unease on a No-Deal Brexit to hop aboard the Boris Big Bus.

“Ruth who?”, has echoed round this Tory conference with Carlaw now prepared to risk economic disaster being visited upon Scotland, by embracing any cost Brexit.

Oh dear. The Scottish Conservatives will suffer for this at the imminent election.

Undeterred by his poor ratings North of the Border, Johnson has been lining up his ducks on assaults on the SNP-devolved government. He has attacked three main areas in Scotland as “inadequate”, areas that he thinks will resonate with voters – taxation, the NHS, and education. I wonder which voters he is really trying to target, other than the Tory membership and their readiness to ditch Scotland in order to get Brexit “done”. He’s certainly not appealing to the people of Scotland who recognise defence of public services here as compared to their destruction under the Tories in England.

When the Scottish Government called the Scottish Tories' bluff and remodelled Scotland’s taxation system into one of the fairest and most progressive in Europe, with higher taxes for earners above £33,000 but 55% of Scots tax earners paying less, Conservatives in Holyrood waited and salivated for a Daily Mail led backlash. And they are still waiting, poor souls. Because what they didn’t bank on is a nation that’s not as mean spirited as they are, whose values are far more aspirational and long-sighted.

Many higher earners embraced the changes and declared they were happy to pay a little extra because they knew it was getting funnelled into our shared public services.

As for the NHS, from the outside looking in, Scots know how it is right to have a government that is doing its best to mitigate the UK Government’s continuing disastrous cuts and austerity measures and we certainly don’t take it for granted. The same applies to education, which has weathered many storms of criticism, including the one where Andrew Neil of the Beeb, got turned over by Ofcom for recycling Tory propaganda.

The important thing to remember is that, it’s all just noise. Johnson is merely another Tory PM in that long line who have tried to chip away at our self-worth. Ultimately, his power to restrict Scotland at the UN summit will be very limited. Even if he is still around, it won’t be up to him who speaks about what and when. This isn’t some parochial get-together cooked up by the Tory party, it’s an international body, with world leaders trying to reach consensus on a real threat to global survival. The climate imperative puts all the Boris bullying techniques into perspective. Plus, the UN has got plenty of experience in dealing with nasty and vindictive premiers whose bums are too big for their britches.

But most importantly, the UN is already on the case of the UK Government. Their Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Philip Alston, criticised Tory austerity and accused the UK Government of “a systematic immiseration of a significant part of the British population”, comparing their welfare policies to 19th-century workhouses. He singled out Scotland and applauded our efforts to combat this counsel of despair. Alston, interestingly, has also just completed a damning report on the devastating impact of climate change on poverty and has warned that, as popular demand for tackling this crisis grows, the wealthy elites will crack down ever harder on demonstrators, activists and indeed governments who support action. In other words, people like poster-boy Boris Johnson, dressed up as the people’s PM. He can crack down all he likes, but we’re nae daft, we’ve got other plans. Scotland doesn’t need Operation Arse to know that this particular Emperor is in the buff.