WE are, of course, all transfixed in shock and horror by the heartbreaking plight of Ukraine. A million refugees are now believed to have fled Ukraine seeking safety and shelter in neighbouring countries. Many, many more are expected to join them in the days and weeks ahead as the Russian assault intensifies.
The UN refugee agency has estimated that the number could rise to as many as four million, vastly exceeding the 1.3 million who attempted to reach Europe from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan during the refugee crisis of 2015. It is the greatest refugee crisis that Europe has had to deal with since the Second World War, and the UK Government has stood out for all the wrong reasons, being the only European government to refuse to suspend visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens.
This is, quite rightly, the story which dominates the news schedules to the virtual exclusion of almost everything else. The agonies of Ukraine and the refusal of the Conservative Government to suspend visa requirements or to take strong, immediate and effective action against the assets of the wealthy Russians who have sprayed their cash at the City of London, the UK financial sector and the Conservative Party itself is nothing short of a national disgrace to the UK, and it is truly shameful that Johnson and his cronies represent Scotland as well as the rest of the UK to the international community.
The British Government has been accused by opposition parties and anti-corruption campaigners of providing Russian oligarchs linked to the Kremlin with an 18-month loophole to sell off their property in the UK and move their assets abroad after a “transition period” was written into new property registration rules. According to Transparency International UK, at least £1.5 billion of property has been bought in the UK since 2016 by Russians who have been accused of corruption or having links to Putin's regime.
We are better than the callous Conservatives, and the Scottish First Minister has not ceased in pressuring Johnson to open up the UK to Ukrainian refugees in the same way that EU countries have done. Sadly, her pleas have been rebuffed.
The EU is poised to trigger its Temporary Protection Directive, created in the aftermath of the crises in Bosnia and Kosovo, but hitherto unused. Brussels is expected to give Ukrainian refugees the right to live and work in the EU for up to three years. Ukrainian citizens will also be entitled to work and access education and housing throughout the EU without having to claim asylum.
However, the UK is being nowhere near as generous. The UK Government has said it is willing to accept 200,000 or more refugees, but only if they are relatives of British citizens or Ukrainians already settled in the UK. Businesses will also be allowed to sponsor a Ukrainian to come to the UK.
But as we sit powerless to alter the course of events in Ukraine, there are other political developments taking place almost unnoticed. One of these means that we are likely to be stuck with Boris Johnson for the foreseeable future.
The Conservative revolt against Johnson which dominated the news before Putin's invasion of Ukraine has now fizzled out. Tory MPs have told the right-wing press that because of the crisis in Ukraine, Johnson is safe from partygate, claiming that they have been impressed by his handling of the Ukrainian crisis and saying that what is required now is stability and this is no time for a leadership contest.
One former minister told a right-wing newspaper: "Boris is in the clear now, he is almost certainly safe unless the police actually arrest him."
An arrest is vanishingly unlikely to occur, the worst that might plausibly happen to Johnson as a result of the Met Police investigation into the lockdown-busting parties held in Downing Street is that he is issued with a fixed penalty notice.
It looks as though the Scottish Conservatives will have to go into the local elections with a UK leader that their Scottish leader has decried as unfit for office. Johnson's survival might spell the end of Douglas Ross's tenure as leader.
This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.
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