In his speech to the virtual Conservative Party Conference, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson eulogised a Britain that was “more united than for decades”; a Britain where the exit from the European Union “has delivered a new excitement and verve”.
A Britain where Brexit would be “a huge opportunity for Scotland”.
The unusual setting was fitting for such an address, because it seemed that whatever reality the Prime Minister was living in, it was certainly not this one.
The country has never been so divided, and in so many ways: Brexiteers against Remainers, north against south, rich against poor, Scots against English, far left against far right, the list goes on.
Far from creating “excitement and verve”, the likelihood of the United Kingdom severing its ties with the EU without any form of compensating trade deal is spreading disillusionment and despair among all but the most rabid haters of Brussels.
Scotland, far from being eager to anticipate the “huge opportunities” that Brexit will bring, is straining at the leash for a new referendum that would almost certainly result in it breaking free to set a path to independence and its own relationship with the EU.
The really terrible thing about Johnson’s address is that he doesn’t believe a word of it.
He knows all about the dangers of Brexit but is too far along the path to attempt any kind of correction, instead falling back on Joseph Goebbels’ dictum that if you tell a really big lie and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
Lying is one skill at which Johnson is supremely proficient, going back to the days when he was sacked from a newspaper for making up a key quote.
He cheated his way through the EU referendum campaign with lies about the huge financial benefit to the country’s National Health Service that Brexit would bring, and most recently he lied during the exit negotiations with Brussels, making arrangements over the future of Northern Ireland he had no intention of keeping.
Johnson has tried to preserve the image of a likeable rogue; a bumbling eccentric who somehow muddles through. In fact he is as brutal and ruthless as any Mafia captain.
At the last General Election he demanded all Conservative candidates sign up for his version of Brexit before gaining party endorsement, thus silencing any debate within the rank and file.
The hollowing out of the party left him short of talent for his Ministry, having to pick from the rump of narrow-focused Brexit fanatics who owed their loyalty, not to the country, or even to the party, but to him.
It is little wonder that many Scots are regretting their decision to place trust in one of Johnson’s predecessors, David Cameron when during the 2014 referendum campaign, he told them their future in Europe was better assured as part of the UK than as an independent nation.
Johnson has stuck to the broken record-formula that the Scots made their decision to stay within the UK then and the question of independence is not going to be revisited.
Given that the vote was taken on the understanding that Scotland’s place in the EU was assured, there is every reason to allow voters north of the border the chance to change their minds.
While it is difficult to exert pressure in Westminster while the Brexiteer Government holds a substantial majority, it behoves Scottish Nationalists, both in and out of Government, to make the next few months and years as difficult for Johnson as they can.
Eventually, the make-up of future Parliament will be less favourable to the ruling party, of whatever colour.
Then will be the time to strike.
