THE First Minister’s reaction to the allegations by Tory opponents of the Prime Minister of intimidation and blackmail by Boris Johnson and his colleagues was not one of incredulity but mild surprise that they could sink any lower in terms of utter corruption and criminality.
Sturgeon’s statement that “the moral decay at the heart of Johnson’s government may be even worse than we thought” was made amidst tales that Tory MPs who question the Prime Minister’s actions or speak out against him have been threatened with withholding funding from their constituencies or smearing their reputations with the help of the many government friends in the right-wing press.
All of this merely cements what many people, in Scotland at least, have known for some time now. In short, that the Prime Minister is a narcissistic sociopath who has filled his Cabinet with nodding donkeys who, like him, have no moral compass or genuine social conscience.
Like feudal barons, they owe their position to Johnson and are willing to defend the indefensible to retain their power and influence in government. They will repeat meaningless soundbites like “he got Brexit done” and “he’s leading our levelling up” with no tangible evidence to support this, but certain that their allies in the media will seek to persuade the gullible and bewildered that the Westminster government is a roaring success.
We are now witnessing the blatant subverting of democracy to such a degree that the Prime Minster, as LibDem leader Ed Davey observed, is acting like a mafia boss. Never mind his disgracefully arrogant and disrespectful behaviour towards Ian Blackford in the House of Commons when confronted with his alleged breaking of the ministerial code, Johnson appears, like Don Corleone, to have the police in his pocket and his MPs living in trepidation. He is more than willing to throw loyal apparatchiks under the bus to save himself.
READ MORE: Downing Street resists probe into whip 'blackmail' claims to keep PM in post
His regime has witnessed the most blatant attack on the poorest families in the UK since the Thatcher administration. As fuel prices soar, the cost of living and inflation are on the rise and the worst consequences of Brexit still waiting in the wings, it is now imperative that Scotland decides its own future and depart this dystopian nightmare, which will doubtless end with Johnson leaving a metaphorical horse’s head in Mr Sunak’s bed before he leaves the political stage.
Owen Kelly
Stirling
IT’S not surprising that “Pro-indy Labour members feel like ‘second-class citizens’ over candidacy ban” (Jan 16) as the cat got out of the bag in the lead-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum when Johann Lamont announced that “we’re not genetically programmed, in Scotland, to make political decisions” during a televised debate.
It was no slip of the tongue, as she waved a sheaf of papers that apparently contained proof of her astonishing claim.
Anas Sarwar’s announcement regarding Labour Party candidates appears to show that the party really does believe that Scots are so inferior to the electorate in other countries that they cannot even be allowed to make a decision on whether or not they want their country to remain in a voluntary union.
If there is any evidence behind Johann Lamont’s incredible claim, it must surely point in the direction of Scots politicians who are members of political party branches that are funded by, controlled by and must follow policies decided by politicians in their party headquarters in London.
READ MORE: Pro-indy Labour members feel like 'second-class citizens' over candidacy ban
The Labour Party’s elected Scottish politicians must follow party policies even when they are clearly not supported by nor in the interests of their constituents.
The people who make most of the decisions in party actions are not answerable to Scottish voters and the elected bodies on which Labour Party members serve in Scotland.
It beggars belief that in future elections the Labour Party will ask us to vote for candidates who are standing on a manifesto that limits the range of decisions they may make on matters affecting their constituents.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
I WANT to make comment about the Labour Party in Scotland’s position that their candidates cannot be supportive of Scottish independence. Those members who may be of a Unionist persuasion but who support the democratic right of our citizens to decide in a referendum what the future of their country should be, are they also barred from being candidates for a party that claims to support democracy?
Bobby Brennan
Glasgow
I WATCH with horror at the number of Tory ministers and MPs coming out to back Boris Johnson and his breaking the rules, and of course not accepting responsibility for the goings-on in Downing Street.
To my mind every time they do this they are defending the indefensible and ENABLING his behaviour as well as making complete fools of themselves. Dennis Skinner got it right when he said “When posh boys get into trouble they sack the servants”. Just watch Boris do exactly that.
Winifred McCartney
Paisley
AS the shepherd said to anyone interested, if the dog can’t control the sheep, you don’t get rid of the sheep, you replace the dog.
Tom Gray
Braco
I ENJOYED the article about the battle of Stirling Bridge (Braveheart inaccuracies are injustice to kingdom, Jan 17), but there was one error. Wallace’s ally was Andrew de Moray, not Andrew Murray. There is a plaque commemorating him on the remains of Ormond Castle at Ormond Hill at Avoch.
Marjory Miller
via email
DOMINIC Cummings, having been around No 10 right from the start of the pandemic, will know most of what went on apart from parties during that period. Who got what contract, where money went to, and what department forked it over .Was it off the books? No doubt he will figure out how to blow the whistle on Boris without implicating himself.
James Ahern
East Kilbride
THE persistence and tenacity of the media( right and left) regarding our ‘illustrious’ leader, Boris and the part he’s played in ‘Partygate’ is clear to see. This is fair enough to one extent but it does pose the question, why hasn’t TV and the press shown the same veracity with regard the government’s performance in so many other areas. The disastrous decline of the UK’S economy, (post Brexit ), the rise in poverty, the neglect of the NHS, the non existent ‘levelling up’, the obbhorent house of Lords, the sleaze, the corruption, the power grabbing ,the cocooned well off. etc. Instead they concentrate on bring your own booze to “work events” (wrong as it is) I find this quite baffling and sad!
Robin MacLean
Fort Augustus
Sorry to disappoint, but Robert Burns being advised not to write in Scots (Jan 17?) is no new discovery.
Melvyn Gibson
via email
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