Nicola Sturgeon
The ‘mandate wars’ won’t be resolved anytime soon
So what does it all mean? The first thing to bear in mind is that more than one thing may…
Can the UK government navigate the SNP’s calls for a second referendum?
The Unionist tactical voting in Scotland makes it tempting to see the country as split down the middle between pro-independence…
‘I can just be myself’
Can Anas Sarwar woo Scottish voters back?
Has the shine come off Saint Jacinda?
For a short time it seemed as if Jacinda Ardern, the popular premier of New Zealand, could do no wrong…
A parcel of rogues
There is a more depressing subject than the lockdown. The evening began with a bottle of 18-year-old Glenmorangie. It was…
Salmond could spark a nationalist war over Europe
There was a Scooby Doo moment in Alex Salmond’s campaign launch on Tuesday. Something that made me think: ‘Ruh-roh’. The…
What we still don’t know about the Salmond affair
The inquiry into the Alex Salmond affair has concluded that Nicola Sturgeon misled parliament and potentially breached the ministerial code.…
The Hamilton report has not vindicated Nicola Sturgeon
Let me first deal with the general confusion. Most Scots think that the Hamilton Report, published today, deals with the…
The shine has finally come off the SNP
This week is still going to be a bad one for Nicola Sturgeon. But it seems probable that we won’t…
A fight on our hands
The power wielded by Nicola Sturgeon and her Scottish government means it’s hard to hold her to account for basic…
Sturgeon’s future now hangs in the balance
At First Minister’s Questions this afternoon Nicola Sturgeon accused Ruth Davidson of peddling baseless conspiracy theories, dredged up from ‘the bottom…
David Davis: Scotland – A deficit of power and accountability
For the past few months, Scotland has been transfixed by the Holyrood inquiry seeking the truth of what went wrong…
The shifting sands of Scotland
Every politician likes to say that they don’t pay attention to opinion polls. In my experience, this is almost universally…
Salmond’s revenge
Ancient Greeks were not slow to express their enthusiasm for taking revenge. Observing the recent proceedings in the Scottish parliament,…
A democratic deficit
The campaign for a Scottish parliament was rooted in the notion of a ‘democratic deficit’. Scotland kept voting Labour but…
The SNP’s transphobia muddle
For a party so devoted to trans rights, it seems strange that the SNP is less than forthcoming over its…
Diary
Did Nicola Sturgeon lie to the Scottish parliament? A Holyrood committee into the now infamous Alex Salmond affair has been…
There is something rotten in Scottish politics
It is now two years since Nicola Sturgeon accepted the need for a parliamentary inquiry into how, and why, her…
A boost for the Tories
Imagine for a minute what British politics would be like without a Covid vaccine. The cabinet would be deeply, and…
The Scottish play
Scottish politics tends to go through long bouts of single-party dominance. In the 19th century, the Liberals were in charge.…
The real Tory opposition leader
A few months ago, Tory aides spotted a suspicious pattern. If they agreed on a new Covid policy to be…
Queen of Scots
Despite her record, nothing can stop Nicola Sturgeon
Leaving the Union would harm Scotland more than Brexit
The Spectator recently ran a piece by Andrew Wilson, author of the SNP’s Sustainable Growth Commission, under the headline ‘Scotland…
How to keep the UK united
Tory MPs are already starting to talk about May’s various elections. Boris Johnson’s first post-Covid electoral test will take place…
Devolution is a failing halfway house
One of the things I hadn’t anticipated about the pandemic is that it would turn me into an English nationalist.…
