Chris

It’s difficult to explain to anyone who doesn’t swim in Scottish politics every day of the week. The view you get of Sturgeon and the SNP down south is not the same as we get here where they are on the tv news every single sudding day.

The SNP is above everything else a campaigning organisation that believes in the righteousness of The Cause (that being independence). They have come to believe that their cause is so right that they, being in pursuit of it, can do no wrong. That tips over into everything they do. People who should get sacked don’t get sacked. People who should be criticised are defended. It’s a knee jerk reflex response, borne out of an inability to believe that the SNP (or by extension those working for it) can do any wrong. And yes, I am aware that Calderwood was a government employee and not a party hack but here in Scotland over the last 13 years the lines have become very blurred and the SNP shows precious little evidence that it understands the difference between itself and Scotland.

If Nicola Sturgeon was the politician that everyone in England seems to think she is, she would have had the instincts to distance herself from Calderwood today. But she didn’t. She had her government press office issue a strident defence of her all morning, and then this afternoon, embarrassingly, used the daily Covid press conference to state emphatically that she had to remain in post because of her expertise. That is because Sturgeon’s instinct is always that Sturgeon is right, the people Sturgeon is associated with are right, and everyone who questions her is a Tory.

It remains to be seen whether Boris’ hospitalisation will deflect much attention from this in the Scottish press tomorrow. Scottish news editors tend to have their own agenda (even the ones working for UK-wide titles) and the front pages in Scotland are almost always different than in England.