Boris Johnson’s trip to Scotland won’t save the union, but at least he’s trying

The prime minister’s visit may have worked in Nicola Sturgeon’s favour, but he has to continue making arguments in person, writes John Rentoul

Are Nicola Sturgeon’s trips to the Scottish parliament ‘genuinely essential’?  (Reuters TV)

You can imagine what Nicola Sturgeon would say if the prime minister hadn’t visited Scotland. He spends all his time in London ignoring the democratically expressed wishes of the Scottish people; he’s not interested in us. 

I admit it hadn’t occurred to me what she would say when Boris Johnson did visit. I assumed it would be the usual sarcastic welcome for an English politician who is so unpopular in Scotland that his very presence there drives up support for independence. 

I underestimated her again. Her response was brilliant: to criticise the prime minister for making an inessential trip during lockdown. The high moral ground was effortlessly taken, and the subtext is to stoke the plague-inspired desire to hunker down and close borders that has driven support for independence to new levels over the past year.