The Scottish people will respond with a "wave of revulsion" if former UK prime minister Boris Johnson returns to Downing Street following the resignation of Liz Truss. This is what the leader of the Scottish Nationalists (SNP) in the British parliament, Ian Blackford, believes will happen in such a case, as he explained this Friday in statements to BBC Scotland. Faced with polls that indicate that the controversial former Tory leader could lead the British executive again if he decides in the end to stand, the pro-independence leader sent a strong message to the Conservative Party: that Johnson's return will only put even more distance between Scotland and Westminster.
"They haven't learned anything"
When Johnson left office this summer, he said goodbye to his colleagues with a phrase that could be considered prescient: "Hasta la vista, baby!". But the prospect of a return to power by the man who has generated the most scandals in British politics, and who has done the least to maintain the union of the four home countries that make up the United Kingdom, has revived outrage among Scots. In Blackford's opinion, "there’s real concern that the Tories might want to foist Boris Johnson back onto us again - I think there will be a wave of revulsion throughout Scotland," he said. In this regard, the SNP believe that the Conservative Party has "lost touch with reality" and the attempt to restore the image of Johnson, who was brought down by his own party, is isolating them further from Scotland: "They have learned nothing from what we have been through and the reason why Boris Johnson had to quit," he criticized. And the fact is that the former prime minister is still being investigated for the alleged lies he told the House of Commons about his cabinet's parties in the midst of the Covid pandemic.
Attempt to stop Johnson
Even so, Blackford predicts the decline of the Tories: "We can’t continue to see Parliament as a personal plaything of those on the Tory right that want to enact the policies that they’ve been doing", he said in reference to the economic decline since Brexit, which has culminated in the cost of living crisis, accelerated by Truss's failed neoliberal policies. Like most opposition parties, Blackford has called for a general election, saying the Tories have "run out of time". On the other hand, the Liberal Democrats have presented a motion in Parliament to try to prevent Johnson from being re-elected, and there are moves to stop MPs who broke the anti-Covid laws while in power from standing in the Conservative Party primaries.
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