The next time Boris Johnson visits Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon should ignore him completely, says Mike Donachie.
What a circus. Boris Johnson descended on Scotland, mumbling and bumbling around remote spots in carefully-staged publicity stunts while his political opponents took shots from afar and passers-by booed him like some pantomime villain.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon accused him of “crowing” about the Union, saying the Prime Minister was “celebrating a pandemic” and using it to make a political point. She then used it to make a political point, saying Scotland would cope with COVID-19 better if it was an independent country. She kept a straight face when she did it.
On the sidelines, Willie Rennie said Johnson and Sturgeon should “grow up”, which I agreed with even though Willie Rennie was saying it. Usually he spends his time ineffectually calling on Sturgeon to do things or say things, like some pitchside heckler who could’ve had a game but has that old knee trouble again. On this occasion he came on as a sub and made a decent contribution.
That fella from Labour was probably somewhere doing or saying something too, but whatever. Life’s too short to care. Oh, and the Greens exist.
In short, some political people accused each other of playing politics with a pandemic: pointlessly, because they were all at it. What a waste of time.
Politicians are elected to lead, not to get their photograph taken pointing at things. I understand the SNP exists mainly to demand Scottish independence, but Scotland is better off when they focus on governing, which they do fairly well.
For example, those televised briefings from Sturgeon, with her serious, measured tone and reliance on the science are exactly what’s needed – and in this case it’s wrong of her opponents to condemn them as political showboating.
As First Minister, Sturgeon is an exemplary servant-leader whose empathetic stewardship has saved lives, unlike Johnson, whom history will judge harshly. England and Wales don’t deserve his elitist, self-centred incompetence, even if they did vote for it.
It was disappointing to see Nicola Sturgeon sink to Boris Johnson’s level. The next time he visits Scotland – presumably in disguise or under a blanket – she should ignore him utterly, and quietly continue governing well.
