Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Sturgeon isn’t an ‘attention seeker’

She's much more dangerous than that

There is a lot of pearl-clutching over Liz Truss’s dismissive remarks about Nicola Sturgeon. Much of it involves conflating a dig at the leader of the SNP with a grave insult to Scotland. This is symptomatic not only of the fetid culture of grievance that permeates Scottish politics but of the steady merging of the party of government and the state itself. Were Emmanuel Macron to brand Boris Johnson an ‘attention seeker’, these same guardians of the public discourse would scoff at the suggestion it represented a slight against the British people. In fact, they would regard anyone proposing such an interpretation as a hysterical ideologue and perhaps even a jingoist.

The difference is that Boris Johnson isn’t regarded as a semi-monarchical figure. He and his government are robustly scrutinised. He is treated as what he is: just another politician. Nicola Sturgeon is just another politician and neither criticisms nor insults directed at her are reflections on Scotland or its people. She is not the custodian of our national honour. L’État n’est pas Nicola.

She is also not new to this game. This lark would be mildly less silly if it weren’t in aid of the most ruthless political operator since Harold Wilson. Sturgeon is tougher than any Westminster fixer, strategist or power-broker you care to name.

A fairly mild bit of partisan rhetoric is enough to imperil the future existence of the UK?

Of course, the contention here is that Truss’s remarks are bad optics. Not a good look: it’ll play into the hands of the SNP.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that Truss’s critics are right. Let’s say that her barb at the leader of a rival political party undermines Tory efforts to defend the Union or encourages more people to support secession.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in