Another Scottish independence vote would be lost if Boris Johnson was prime minister, and maybe a border poll too

It’s reasonable to assume that Sir Bernard does not have Dominic Cummings towards the top of his Christmas card list. He could well have looked from Cummings to Johnson, and then from Johnson to Cummings, and seen no difference. So, he is speaking out.

Good for him.

A significant aspect of the school meals issue is that the government is so spiteful, foolish and stubborn it cannot even see that it has lost the debate. What’s most striking about Track and Trace is that Mr Johnson is so dependant on his political friends, Baroness Dido Harding to be exact.

But, when you are an untrusted politician such faithful friends are important, because you have so few of them.

Good governance seems to be evaporating across the board.

The Sunday Times insight team investigation into an alleged “decision-making tool” to triage access to ICU beds for Covid patients in parts of England is no surprise. I remember hearing, many months ago, about such a tool.

You scored points for age or illnesses, more than 9 points and there was a question mark over your suitability for ICU.

The issue was lost in the chaos of the initial crisis, but the issue of trust in political leadership now arises again, backed up by powerful journalism from the Sunday Times.

But, what of our old friend Brexit?

It’s rumoured that Boris Johnson is keeping his options open because he fears a Biden victory in the US presidential election. It’s suggested that a Trump victory would embolden Mr Johnson to reject a deal that he does not like, but he would not dare if Biden wins.

That makes sense, but where is the prime minister’s courage of his convictions ? To break that question down more accurately, where is the prime minister’s courage, where and what are his convictions, and can we trust any word that he says, or any deed that he does?

I once thought Sir Bernard Jenkin was a political extremist. Compared to the prime minister he is a paragon of virtue, and a textbook example of integrity.

What, oh what, is to be done?

As Ben Lowry has pointed out a Starmer administration might grant a second Scottish independence referendum or a border poll (Just as Peter Robinson says, there is a need to build arguments for the UK in case of a border poll ), though I would argue he could win both for the Union. But a Prime Minister Johnson would certainly lose the former, maybe the latter.

Furthermore Mr Johnson may antagonise Scottish opinion so much that we see a Catalonia-like uprising, with hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of Edinburgh, demanding ‘freedom’.

A second independence referendum may become unstoppable under Boris Johnson.

At this stage, a change in the governing party might be risky and unhelpful, but a change in prime minister is becoming essential.

John Gemmell, Wem, Shropshire

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