Alex Salmond will be a formidable opponent – so David Cameron needs to fight on his own terms
In Aberdeen this week, a new statue of Robert the Bruce was unveiled. Canny, daring and tenacious, he is a king revered for an audacious victory that altered the course of Scottish history and secured his country’s independence from England. It is easy to imagine Alex Salmond plotting where his own statue will be, how tall the plinth. He has the same ambition, to win Scotland’s independence, and his battle plan is not entirely dissimilar. In Bannockburn, a much larger English force was destroyed on the battlefield as a result of its recklessly complacent commanders. Almost 700 years later, the same fate may well befall the unionist parties if they’re not careful.
The devolutionists aimed to kill Scottish nationalism by setting up a parliament in Edinburgh. To put it mildly, this has not gone according to plan. When home rule was introduced by New Labour, it was obvious to many of us on both sides of the border that such crackpot constitutional changes would weaken the United Kingdom and imperil its survival. Wouldn’t giving power to Scotland only boost the SNP and create an appetite for more concessions? So, alas, it has proved.
A new orthodoxy has now emerged, at least in Westminster. It is fashionable to say that an SNP victory does not mean the Scots want a complete break-up of the union — polls show support for independence at as little as 33 per cent. But polls showed just 25 per cent supporting Salmond’s party two months ago: he went on to wipe the floor with his rivals in the election campaign and win a majority in Holyrood. The same might happen again. His forces are highly disciplined, and have the goal of independence firmly in sight.
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