Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Why should we expect Nicola Sturgeon to support Team GB?

(Photo: Getty)

It hasn’t been a great month for Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. First, there was the announcement that an official police investigation would take place into missing money from donations supposedly ‘ring-fenced’ for a future independence campaign; then questions about why Scotland’s vaccination targets had been missed led, apparently, to Sturgeon’s ‘Trump like meltdown’ (how she must have hated that comparison); and to cap it all off, Team GB started off rather well at the Tokyo Olympics.

The sporting success led to politicians from all hues of the political spectrum tweeting their congratulations: all hues save the bright yellow of the Nats that is – from whence silence. Not one member of Sturgeon’s top team appeared to express public support for GB’s early medal winners in Tokyo.

Perhaps the First Minister was too busy single-handedly running Scotland and waging war against the coronavirus? Well, perhaps not, as Sturgeon did find time to tweet about a fresh independence drive and share her recommendations for summer reading (Val McDermid and Elif Shafak, if you’re interested). Other leading lights of the independence movement seem to have been similarly time rich – Ian Blackford delighted his followers with anecdotes about his vintage record player.

Condemnation for Sturgeon’s silence came from, among others, Labour’s shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray, who wrote that ‘the ethos of the Olympics – unity and working together as a team – goes against everything the SNP stands for, so perhaps it’s no surprise they can’t get behind our amazing athletes.’ Under pressure Sturgeon did finally tweet out congratulations on Wednesday for the efforts of Glaswegian swimmer Duncan Scott.

But, is this criticism a bit unfair? After all, if you’re in any doubt about the SNP’s contempt for, and desire to break up, the UK, you really haven’t been paying attention.

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