Boris Johnson's Tories may be anaesthetising the public with endless scandals

TODAY is one of those days when you really want a break from politics.

Even if we are fast approaching the end of the Scottish Parliament election campaign, and the UK Government doesn’t seem to be able to enjoy a single day without a damaging revelation in the press, I bet that most of us in Scotland today would rather forget about all that and enjoy our first meal and drink with pals and family, visit a museum, exercise in a gym or go shopping, as we take the first major step out of lockdown.

However, the latest accusations against Prime Minister Boris Johnson are probably the most serious yet, with reports in the press that he said he would rather see "bodies pile high in their thousands" than order a third salutary lockdown. Dominic Cummings, who quit his functions last year, is again suspected to be the origin of this leak, days after newspapers reported the former top adviser was preparing an explosive raft of evidence to pin the responsibility of this winter’s coronavirus deaths on the Prime Minister personally.

READ MORE: SNP demand Boris Johnson's resignation over 'let the bodies pile high' remark

Now, this is not to say that what Dominic Cummings says should be taken as the gospel truth: he could be in a lot of trouble if he is confirmed as the source of multiple leaks against the government, so he is trying to protect himself and he has little to lose.

Cummings accuses his former boss of a lack of integrity, but I do not think the word “integrity” springs to the mind of anyone who thinks of the former Vote Leave mastermind.

After a winter of constant political controversies, especially for those of us who have an interest in Scottish politics and have religiously followed Holyrood’s harassment inquiry, Boris Johnson wouldn’t be entirely mistaken in assuming we are all a bit fed up with this sort of news.

We risk becoming rather anaesthetised by the sheer amount of controversy afflicting this Tory government, from dubious Covid contracts to the Greensill and Dyson lobbying rows.

David Cameron has found himself at the centre of a scandal around lobbying for Greensill

Boris Johnson usually has the incredible ability to avoid extraordinary vitriol and hostility in the press, and his popularity in polls does not seem to suffer much even when he is proven wrong. But the alleged atrocious coronavirus comments, without the shadow of a doubt, will not be easily brushed under the carpet.

This is not some hypothetical and unclear link between politics and big business: this is very real and raw for thousands of grieving families.

With over 127,000 lives lost to this virus, one of the worst death tolls in Europe which experts say was far from inevitable, these words, whether they were indeed uttered by the Prime Minister or not, will comfort many citizens across the UK in their opinion that the Government does not actually care about the lives of ordinary people.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson says lockdown variations across UK had 'political purposes'

This complaint is something that I have heard time and time again when I spoke with people here in Scotland who have changed their minds over independence, especially in the past few months: that the UK Government just isn’t concerned by the human tragedy caused by the pandemic, as long as the powerful are protected and nothing changes.

It could sound paradoxical, as Scotland was far from spared by the pandemic with over 10,000 people dying from coronavirus here too. However, these voters think, rightly or wrongly, that the Scottish Government dealt with the pandemic with more decency, more humanity, and, despite appalling mistakes, did all they could do compared to the UK Government.

Westminster isn’t setting the bar very high. Nevertheless, the comparison is largely to Nicola Sturgeon’s government’s advantage.