The SNP are masters at playing Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

All political parties have their cultish moments but some are more cultish than others. That doesn’t mean all their supporters are kool-aid drinkers, just that, on balance, they’re more likely to be so. This is not, I should have thought, a particularly novel or controversial observation.

But, for some reason, suggesting that the SNP’s followers are especially likely to be animated by what one might dub a quasi-religious fervour seems to annoy them. And yet, at other moments, they are keen to point out how the SNP is different from all the other parties. Which is kind of my point too.

And, yes, the SNP’s supporters really do behave in different ways. They are twice as likely as Labour or Conservative voters to view criticism of the party as a personal insult. So much so, in fact, that according to the British Election Survey 50 percent of SNP supporters are of this mind. If nothing else, this suggests an uncommonly deep and intimate attachment to a mere political party.