Stephen Flynn’s shameless conference speech

To Aberdeen, where the great and the not-so-good of Scotland’s independence movement are gathering to pay tribute to that once mighty juggernaut known as the SNP. These days though the Nats are having a tough time, suffering an embarrassing defeat in the Rutherglen by-election and seeing one of their own defect to the Conservative party…

Still, to listen to Stephen Flynn you would think all is rosy in the nationalist world. With more front than Jenners, the SNP Westminster leader boldly told the party faithful that, with education, health and economic ratings all tanking, he had at last discovered who is to blame:

Politics does too easily and too often descend into a blame game. But when the blame is this blatant it deserves to be repeated – and it needs to be remembered. Skint, scunnered and Scottish? Blame the Tories. After 13 years of failure …. we’re now left with the Tory billionaire of last resort – Rishi Sunak.