As Theresa May gave her statement on Article 50 in the Chamber this lunchtime, there was a fair bit of heckling. The SNP benches persistently barracked the Prime Minister — with Angus Robertson, the SNP Westminster leader, talking throughout. This wasn’t the first heckle to emit from the benches, with Joanna Cherry and Philip Boswell earlier scolded by the Speaker for ‘unseemly’ behaviour.
When Robertson got up to deliver his response to May’s statement, he tried to lay the groundwork for ‘IndyRef2’ as he complained that the government were ‘incapable of understanding people voted to remain’ in Scotland — but then he stopped. The reason? A light heckle from the Tory benches. Lacking any self awareness of his behaviour just minutes before, Robertson saw red and launched into a tirade against the audacity of the Conservatives — warning them that us Scots DO have televisions:
‘Do the honourable gentlemen and ladies opposite not understand that we have televisions in Scotland — that viewers in Scotland can see the discourtesy from the benches opposite.
They don’t like to hear it but listen they must. As Scotland’s members of Parliament we have been sent here to stand up for the people of Scotland.’
Now Robertson is right — us Scots do have televisions. In fact, growing up just outside Edinburgh I managed to watch television on a daily basis. But no matter where you were brought up, no-one seriously doubts this. So, what was Robertson getting at? Well, this was hypocrisy with a purpose. The SNP were trying to goad the Tory benches into some ‘unseemly’ behaviour of their own (ideally in an easily clippable format that would show English Tories mocking the will of the Scottish people). In the end, Robertson was left disappointed. Any individual (Scot or not) who watched the statement will have seen that there was no foul play — at least, not from the Tory benches.
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