It’s a long time, apparently. Because while a general election on 12 December would be a “barking mad” idea according to the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford on Thursday, having one on 9 December instead is genius.
So in a month in which this site has been extensively screamed at by SNP diehards as the work of a “traitor” and an “MI5 plant” for suggesting that maybe the SNP could vote with the Tories (or perhaps just abstain) to let Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal go through in exchange for a second indyref, the official SNP plan is to now vote with the Tories to give them the election Boris Johnson has been trying to call for weeks – which all polls suggest he’d win, allowing him to enact any sort of Brexit he wants – but to cleverly NOT get a second indyref out of it.
It’s Monday morning, readers, so welcome once again to the world’s favourite situation comedy, the United Kingdom.
The current position is that absolutely nobody has the slightest idea what’s going to happen this week, or today, or by lunchtime. The Prime Minister is as we speak being taken to court (again), and a whole series of votes in the House Of Commons may or may not take place and may or may not determine anything.
But there’s one particularly interesting thing going on.
As we write this, Boris Johnson’s new Brexit deal appears to hang in the balance. According to Sky News this morning the arithmetic is poised on a knife-edge.
The four “in play” groups down the middle of the graphic are, from the top: three Tory “Spartans” (hardcore Brexiters who might yet back the deal), 19 Labour MPs who’ve suggested they might do so for various reasons, 20 former-Tory “rebels” who had the whip removed by Johnson for voting to block no-deal, and 14 independents, mainly from the “Change UK” wing or whatever they’re called this week.
The government needs 36 of the 56 to vote with it to get the deal through, and can probably count on most of the 20 former Tories. Labour sources are suggesting, quite plausibly, that double-figure numbers of their 19 will also back the deal. So it’s close.
If it passes, England and Wales will get what they voted for (Brexit), Northern Ireland will – after a fashion – get what it voted for (effectively staying in the EU), and Scotland will get shafted. It’ll be placed at a significant economic disadvantage to NI, at a likely severe cost in jobs and investment. The nation which voted the most decisively on Brexit (for either option) will be the only one not to get its democratic wishes respected.
And slightly surprisingly, the whole UK thinks that’s unfair.
As we write this, voting has just ended to elect the membership of a number of key SNP internal bodies, including the Member Conduct Committee which has the power to discipline members and even expel them from the party.
This year has seen a concerted attempt by a small but active faction within the SNP, led by the Young Scots for Independence and Out For Indy groups, to flood the MCC (which in normal times struggles to fill its ranks) with officers aggressively committed to transgender ideology, with the openly-declared intent of purging “gender-critical” women from all party candidate lists and ensuring that anyone seeking to protect women’s sex-based rights can be expunged for “transphobia”.
(An attempt to deselect Joanna Cherry on such grounds failed earlier this year, but with control of the MCC the faction could pretty much dump anyone it wanted to.)
The matter has not escaped the attention of the independence-hostile media.
We avoided discussing the committee elections while voting was taking place because it’s not our business to interfere in the internal affairs of the SNP, and also because a certain element of the party has been having a massive tantrum over some poll results we published last week and it might have ended up being counter-productive.
But make no mistake – the outcome of these elections will have a huge impact on both the SNP’s electoral fortunes and the chances of securing independence. We’re about to find out, in other words, how screwed we are.
As we write this, in between bouts of weeping with exhausted misery, frustration and rage, Her Majesty’s Opposition’s interminable will-they-won’t-they game of attempting – maybe, one day, perhaps – to bring down the government and force a new election leading to a new EU referendum continues.
And as the SNP in particular devotes huge amounts of energy to trying to stop Brexit, against the wishes of its own voters, we wondered how the public not just in Scotland but in the two constituent nations of the UK that voted Leave felt about that.
The first novel I remember reading is “The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”, shortly after it came out in 1979. I was 12, and it had a huge and lasting effect on me – it was the first thing that made me want to be a writer, and both Adams’ writing style and the worldview it deftly illustrated have been lifelong influences.
Almost every line in the book is great, but this one always stuck with me:
And so to the last of the results from our current poll.
Our feather-ruffling Panelbase poll of SNP voters is now almost at an end, with only one further revelation to come tomorrow. So we thought it was worth taking a moment for a little bit of closer examination of just who the respondents were.
We know, of course, that the criteria for the sample was people who said they currently intend to vote for the SNP with their constituency vote at the next Scottish Parliament election in 2021. But what else do we know about them?
Aidan on Anything But That: “So every region of every country everywhere in the world is a colony is it James? What about those poor…” Sep 3, 14:00
100%YES on Anything But That: “John Swinney blames Westminster for Glasgow homelessness crisis that threatens to bankrupt city, its always Westminster Westminster is the SNP…” Sep 3, 13:58
James on Anything But That: “Long as they’ve got Ace on ice, SP, I’ll be happy.” Sep 3, 13:28
James on Anything But That: “Aww, Adrian, back again? Here’s today’s crossword clue, just for you; A country that has no controls over its own…” Sep 3, 13:27
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “EFTA, eh? Your certainty suggests you see yourself as a kingpin of the negotiating team, flown out (business class, natch)…” Sep 3, 13:20
Northcode on Anything But That: ““The EU literally *is* a beacon of colonialism and represents everything you claim to be against.” What nonsense is this…” Sep 3, 13:16
Aidan on Anything But That: “This whole “Scotland is a colony” theory is only accepted by a tiny minority of largely irrelevant fringe voices. I…” Sep 3, 13:09
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Not answering is Alf’s MO. But I can easily list one benefit of sticking with the status quo. We’ll be…” Sep 3, 13:07
James on Anything But That: “Please stay calm. Wasn’t it funny how Fish Face was never off the telly during the Brexit campaign, though? Was…” Sep 3, 12:56
James on Anything But That: “Alf; “…they didn’t answer…”” Sep 3, 12:52
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Unlike the campervan.” Sep 3, 12:47
Bilbo on Anything But That: “@ Hatey Ye have some imagination on ye, Hatey ma boy.” Sep 3, 11:57
Bilbo on Anything But That: “I see that the trolls are out in force. As the saying goes, Dogs bark but the caravan moves on.” Sep 3, 11:24
Bilbo on Anything But That: “@ Phil 2 September, 2026 at 9:07 pm While the Spectator is a Tory rag as Young Lochinvar says, it…” Sep 3, 11:22
Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Wibble. Hysterical fringe, Exhibit A. You speak of “colonialism” yet complain of “Scotland being dragged out of the EU against…” Sep 3, 11:11
Captain Caveman on Anything But That: “LOL @ “fearsome jobbies” 😀 Yup, unfortunately raw seafood is the most perishable substance known to man, if shellfish are…” Sep 3, 10:51
Minceheid on Anything But That: “Hatey McHateface says: 3 September, 2026 at 9:52 am MH 8:47 Cleared your plate, eh? Thicko twat numpty. Ye’re nae…” Sep 3, 10:29
Alf Baird on Anything But That: ““There needs to be a cogent, logical and factual argument as to the benefits and drawbacks of independence, presented to…” Sep 3, 10:27
Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Well, yes. This is the problem. There needs to be a cogent, logical and factual argument as to the benefits…” Sep 3, 10:02
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Agreed 100% Considering how much worse things are in the UK and Scotland than they were the last time, this…” Sep 3, 09:57
Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Indeed, Call Me Dave campaigned for Remain (which was the official Government policy of the time) and promptly scarpered when…” Sep 3, 09:56
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “MH 8:47 Cleared your plate, eh? Thicko twat numpty. Ye’re nae meant tae eat the shell 🙂” Sep 3, 09:52
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Mussels thrive in polluted, shitty water, rapidly converting the effluent into succulent, delicious seafood. The trick, if you wish to…” Sep 3, 09:48
Rob on Anything But That: “It is this sort of conspiracy led guff that turns folk away from independence. The only way to get another…” Sep 3, 09:42
James Che on Anything But That: “At the time of the treaty of union in 1707, England as a Country not have a written Constitution, At…” Sep 3, 09:41
factchecker on Anything But That: “Good Lord, James Che, where to start? Perhaps a simple, demonstrable piece of rubbish. “Perhaps we should keep re running…” Sep 3, 09:23
James Che on Anything But That: “Scotland as the only other Country in the treaty of union if ot a hoax that created the Great Britain…” Sep 3, 08:54
Minceheid on Anything But That: “Captain Caveman says: 3 September, 2026 at 7:44 am @Dan I can see your point to a degree. I was…” Sep 3, 08:47
James Che on Anything But That: “When you know your elections have been interfered with and are told they were openly. Then those results are not…” Sep 3, 08:37
James Che on Anything But That: “It is an interesting scenario that Scots keep getting what did not vote for, but being told they did vote…” Sep 3, 08:21
