Bully boys and girls.

Last night there was a series of votes in the UK parliament on what has become known as the Scotland Bill.  It’s an interesting piece of legislation that no one voted for at the independence referendum.  A simple yes no question was all that was on the ballot paper.  And only 35% of the people in Scotland voted yes.

Many people had already voted by post before Gordon Brown and his Vow came along.  So the voters who still had to go to the polls were being told there really was a third option on the table.  Vote No and you will not get what you are voting No to, but something else, and that something has been turned into the Scotland Bill.  Weird, but there you go. 

If you watched the debate you will have seen Angus Robertson addressing the Scottish people and remarking that what was happening on the government benches showed disrespect for the people of Scotland and the people of Scotland would be watching.

There is a famous portion in Matthews Gospel when the writer says "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  If only Mr Robertson had noted such advice.  The behaviour of his MPs was really quite remarkable.  Barracking and shouting at anyone who dared to question the Nationalism Party. 

One particular incident occurred when former Consultant breast surgeon Dr Philippa Whitford, SNP Health spokesperson, sought to intervene in a speech by Ian Austin, MP.  You really want to go and look at the footage.  The intervention was somewhat unbecoming of her status.   It may be an unfortunate camera angle but her face says aggression, even hatred towards Mr Austin who was gently reminding the SNP that they already had the power to do things in NHS Scotland which is a devolved matter.  And in Mr Austin’s view, the SNP government in Scotland were making a bit of a hash of it.

And this was the general tone of the SNP.  You can’t comment on Scottish things because you’re not Scottish.  It really was unpleasant.

But this all comes back to one thing.  Leadership.  People follow the behaviour of their leader.  And week after week in the Scottish parliament Ms Sturgeon, by her words and her body language, encourages people to think that anyone who speaks against the SNP is talking rubbish, is unpatriotic, or is somehow cerebrally challenged.  This is her flaw. And will be her downfall.

I think on reflection Angus Robertson will realise that the Scottish people would have been looking, not so much at the government benches but at him and his party.  Unruly, disrespectful, ignorant of how to behave in a debate.  It really was a poor showing in what could have been a grand debate where they could have delivered a stunning argument.  They didn’t.