Scottish Tories should not bin Boris Johnson

Ideas, as a fictitious terrorist once said, are bulletproof. This might be stretching the truth a little, but at the very least they are not easily slain. So long as they appeal to someone’s sentiments or self-interest, no amount of logical dismemberment is enough to put them down for good.

The zombie stalking the discourse today is the suggestion that the Scottish Conservatives should split away from the national party. This zombie has grown no less horrible since Tory members put it in the ground by electing Ruth Davidson ten years ago. So, let’s break out the gasoline and the matches and see if we can’t see it off for good this time.

Boris Johnson has never been popular with the Scottish Conservatives. They perceive him, rightly, as a drag on the party’s vote. Nor have they the same grounds as their comrades in England and Wales to thank him for the 2019 election result, which saw them lose half their hard-won gains from two years before (even if this owed more to Labour’s collapse than anything).