Scotland’s politicians are all Nationalists
A post entitled "David Mundell supports Scotland's place in the Union" has sparked a fun little debate over at Conservative home, possibly because David Mundell takes a pop at Scottish nationalists:
We share the Secretary of State’s welcome for the Calman commission. Does he note the contrast between the application and thoroughness of the interim Calman report and the so-called national conversation, which appears to be little more than a taxpayer-funded blog site for insomniac nationalists? Does he share my disappointment not only with the content but with the tone of the First Minister’s response to the interim report? Will he therefore use his best endeavours to persuade the First Minister that now is the time to show that he is man not a mouse—to use the First Minister’s own analogy—by abandoning the national conversation, which does not have the support of the Scottish Parliament, and by engaging, as many in the Scottish Government wish to do, in the Calman process?
But as David McCrone remarked, "In an important sense, Scotland’s politicians are all Nationalists" (Understanding Scotland: The Sociology of a Nation; 2001).
Very true, all Scotland's politicians pay homage to Scotland at every and any opportunity, in a way that English MPs never do about England (but perversely sometimes do about Scotland or Britain). The ground has shifted so much that the only difference between Scottish factions now is in degrees of separation that they advocate. One commenter to the Conservative Home thread, pokes fun at Mundell by directing us to the David Mundell website with the departing words "WOW look at all of those "Union" flags on his official website!".
Fair point, I think. If David Mundell is such a big supporter of the Calman Commission, whose stated aim is to "secure the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom", then why doesn't Mr Mundell wear his heart on his sleeve and sport some British flags on his website? Too much for his constituents to swallow perhaps!
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If you read the ConHome site
If you read the ConHome site or Hansard, David Mundell (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) (Con) gets cosy support from Jim Murphy (East Renfrewshire) (Lab) against the common Scottish enemy of the SNP after his statement.
David Mundell has no Union Jacks on his site because the enemy in Scotland is not Labour or the Lib-Dems, it is the SNP. As a member of a British party he's got to try and out-Scottish the SNP with Saltires to demonstrate his Scottish credentials.
David McCrone hadn't a clue what he was talking about. Apart from the SNP, all Scotland's politicians are committed regionalists.
"The ground has shifted so much that the only difference between Scottish factions now is in degrees of separation that they advocate"
No, no, no.
Labour want a rather powerful local authority in Scotland because that is the mechanism they've used for decades for perks and for jobs for the boys, but nothing more than that and definitely no separation.
The Conservatives want some form of devolved assembly/parliament because that gives them a presence in Scotland with STV voting that they can't get with FTP but are very definitely against separation.
The Lib-Dems want some form of federal structure in the UK but they can't even get their own party into a federal structure. It's structured as a British party with Scottish and Welsh sub-regions, just like devolution and nothing at all like federalism. Who's the leader of the English Lib-Dems and where's their website? Anyone? They love federalism as long as it involves a coalition with Labour, a ministerial Mondeo, no England and no separation.
The SNP want separation. They want a totally separate country. The rest are unionists who want to tinker with the internal local government of the UK.
The SNP want complete
The SNP want complete separation, the rest varying degrees of administrative separation - even the Tories are pro-devolution these days (as long as it's not for England).
See Brown: I’m as Scottish as Salmond for a demonstration of how eager unionists go out of their way to demonstrate their Scottish credentials.
What he rambled on
What he rambled on about:
What he actually said:
McCrone's actual
McCrone's actual quote:
"In an important sense, Scotland’s politicians are all Nationalists now […] The emergence of national(ist) frame of reference raises
the question of how politics and culture engage."
In other words: "Scotland this, Scotland that."
[...] In an important sense,
[...] In an important sense, Scotland’s politicians are all Nationalists. I was interested to read in the Scotsman (Labour moves to reclaim Saltire from Nationalists, 08 March 2009) that the Labour Party is plastering the Scottish flag all over their literature and website, and prominently dislaying it in their party political broadcasts. [...]