First Minister Humza Yousaf met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last night for the first time since he took over from Nicola Sturgeon almost a month ago. Amongst other things, Yousaf ‘raised concerns’ about ‘UK government attacks on devolution’, including recent comments from a certain Lord David Frost in the Telegraph, who wrote: ‘Not only must no more powers be devolved to Scotland, it’s time to reverse the process.’ But it’s pro-Union politicians who are really up in arms after the Tory peer’s calls that some of the Scottish government’s devolved powers be rolled back. The former Brexit negotiator’s clumsy intervention has been a lifeline to Yousaf in the middle of his crisis.
Who’d have imagined a Tory peer would have been among those helping Yousaf survive the crisis in which he finds himself?
A basic rule of politics is that one should never interrupt an opponent when he is making a mistake. The sensible approach is to let him get on with damaging himself and his cause. As Scotland’s Yousaf flounders in a bubbling swamp of scandal, the duty of the SNP’s opponents is to observe, offering no more than the occasional barb about how Scotland deserves better than a party tearing itself apart while under investigation over allegations of fraud.
Every day since Frost – now a backbencher in the Upper House – wrote in the Telegraph on Wednesday last week that the current scandal engulfing the SNP created an opportunity to weaken the devolved settlement, Scottish nationalists have characterised his words as more than merely the view of a lone figure.
‘He said the quiet bit out loud,’ snapped Yousaf. ‘He said what every single Scottish Conservative really thinks.’ The nationalists’ leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn, went with the classic ‘the mask has slipped’ line, adding: ‘It’s clear Westminster’s repeated attacks on Scotland are a deliberate, co-ordinated attempt to reverse devolution, roll-back the powers of the Scottish Parliament and force Scotland under Westminster control.’
Lest anyone be in in any doubt that Scottish nationalists are not going to let this one go, Frost’s words formed the basis of the front page of the Sunday edition of the pro-independence National newspaper. There is mileage yet for the SNP in his lordship’s ludicrous intervention. The truth is that Frost – a former chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association – does not speak for his party in Scotland. Rather, Tories north of the border generally take the view that he’s a liability. Tory MSP for the Highlands and Islands Donald Cameron accused Frost of talking ‘a load of baloney’. ‘He doesn’t understand the basics of politics,’ one Conservative said. ‘He’s a complete idiot,’ offered another.
The Conservatives found themselves firmly in the minority back in 1997 when they campaigned against the establishment of a new devolved Scottish parliament. Having lost that battle however, the party committed to support devolution as the settled will of the people. As the Scottish Tories slowly built support, eventually overtaking Labour to become the second largest party at Holyrood, they were at great pains to distance themselves from the party at Westminster. Former leader Ruth Davidson was perfectly happy to show her contempt for Boris Johnson on the basis that it would only benefit her politically.
The current Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, has struggled to maintain the support the party gained under Davidson, and a resurgent Labour party has made his task all the more difficult. Right now, Ross and his colleagues would very much like Lord Frost to keep his views about devolution to himself. As one Tory MSP put it: ‘The party has no plans to weaken the devolution agreement. David Frost’s fantasy that we should will only lose us support.
‘Every time Douglas Ross stands up in the Scottish parliament to attack the Scottish Government, Yousaf will always have David Frost’s words to help him. Every time it’ll be “I’ll take no lectures from a party that wants to shut down Holyrood”. It doesn’t take a political mastermind to figure that one out, does it?’
Humza Yousaf has cut a rather lonely figure since succeeding Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader just a month ago. As head of divided, scandal-riddled party, he needs all the friends he can get. Who’d have imagined a Tory peer would have been among those helping him survive the crisis in which he finds himself?
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