When presenter Matt Frei sympathetically puts to her that she left Scotland because she was being “given a very very hard time” by Yes/SNP supporters, Mone denies it, saying “I didn’t actually leave, that wasn’t the main reason to have left Scotland”.
So where could Frei have come by such a misapprehension?
You can’t move for Michelle Mone in the media today, which is just the way she likes it. Almost every newspaper and broadcaster has been running lengthy stories and interviews about the publicity-craving ex-Labour supporter being commissioned by Iain Duncan Smith to produce a report on starting up businesses in disadvantaged areas.
(So excited was Mone – who now backs the Conservatives and is widely expected to be given a peerage in the next honours list by David Cameron for campaigning against Scottish independence – to be working for IDS that she just couldn’t keep the news in until the midnight embargo on the press release, tweeting it at 11pm last night.)
Nationalists have in the main reacted to Mone’s apparent imminent ennoblement as an unelected lawmaker in the manner you’d expect, but they’re not the only people to question her credentials as an expert business adviser and employment guru. So we thought we’d do a little digging and compiling.
Social media is alight today with the latest extraordinary opinion poll for next May’s Holyrood election, which puts the SNP on a record-breaking 62% to Labour’s 20%.
(The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats trail in with miserable stats of 12% and 3% respectively, which means that within the standard margin of polling error it’s possible that NOBODY in Scotland is still planning on voting Lib Dem.)
Pollsters TNS report the findings under what might in the circumstances be seen as the slightly negative headline “SNP holds poll lead in spite of mixed views on record in government”, which relates to figures concerning the Nats’ performance in power.
But there’s an interesting quirk in those numbers.
Alert social-media users will have noticed that it’s hard to avoid a constant low-level buzzing from a faction of the Yes movement, calling on the next Scottish Government (in the event, as currently seems likely, that it’s another SNP majority) to issue a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, or UDI for short.
And in the context of achieving Scottish independence UDI is indeed the answer, if we assume that the question is “What’s the stupidest thing the SNP could possibly do?”
There’s a comment piece by Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson in today’s Sunday Times, comprising 846 words which could be condensed into two: “SNP BAD”.
As such it could have been easily turned into a speech by any Scottish Labour leader of the last five years with nothing more than a quick search-and-replace of the words “Conservative” and “Labour”. It puts forward nothing remotely resembling a policy, just paragraphs of boilerplate waffle and a call for a debate.
Davidson professes to offer “a practical and pro-UK alternative to the SNP”, a programme which she boils down to two key components. It seems to have entirely escaped her notice that they contradict each other on the most fundamental level.
“In an independent Scotland, we’ll never have to worry about Tory governments again”, said the man on my doorstep, his YES badge gleaming in the sunshine.
“I am a Tory,” said I, watching with some amusement as the man’s jaw dropped.
Unalert readers will have been startled to read in much of the media this morning – including a front-page piece on the Daily Record – of the “shocking” £100,000 cost of renaming the new Southern General hospital in Glasgow after the Queen.
Yesterday, whatever the merits of the actual decision involved, we saw an admirable attitude to transparency and accountability from NHS Greater Glasgow And Clyde in their handling of our Freedom Of Information request about the renaming of the South Glasgow University Hospital. An extremely comprehensive response arrived promptly and without any attempts at evasion.
Today was different, because today we were dealing with the BBC.
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Why, Geri? Are you having an organism again?” May 24, 20:59
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “But Geri disnae want tae gang, Sven.” May 24, 20:50
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: ““trying to tarnish an individual due to the times they may post” Wow, Dan, is that all you can find…” May 24, 20:40
Geri on Only An Excuse: “The people’s act didn’t give us democracy. It only ammended who could vote to include the working class.” May 24, 20:29
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Don’t you let them stop you rioting, Geri. Just say when and where. Wild horses couldn’t keep me away from…” May 24, 20:28
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: ““No one person is inherently better than the next” The loser’s charter, re-invented by the woke as their pathetic plea…” May 24, 20:23
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “That’s only half the story, Geri. If they despise socialism, they’ll despise socialists too. Private education too, eh? There will…” May 24, 20:09
Geri on Only An Excuse: “Factchecker We don’t live in a democracy. Westminster is just pantomime for the plebs to keep us from rioting. The…” May 24, 20:04
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Purves, eh, Alf? The pantheon continues to grow.. Was/is he/she a Scot? Or are you going to continue to pursue…” May 24, 20:02
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: ““Call a spade a spade” Sure, Bilbo. What kind of infantile fantasist decides to call himself after a Hobbit?” May 24, 19:53
Geri on Only An Excuse: “Aye, USAID & National Endowment for Democracy (which is US snoops) written all over it. They recruit through private education…” May 24, 19:49
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Sae mony points, yet nae point, Northy. Can’t believe I’m the first to point that oot!” May 24, 19:21
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Ah weel, Auld Lochnagar, yer service was in defence o a furrin croon. Might just be admirable, per se, but…” May 24, 19:18
factchecker on Only An Excuse: “Well don, NC. Further to the earlier point: factchecker says: 24 May, 2026 at 4:32 pm Absolutely. We have always…” May 24, 18:59
Northcode on Only An Excuse: “Here is Point Six in my eight point pattern of points: Six: A tragic sense of history Not defeatist —…” May 24, 17:54
Northcode on Only An Excuse: “Here is Point Five in my eight point pattern of points: Five: Pragmatism — ideas must work in the real…” May 24, 17:19
Northcode on Only An Excuse: “You confuse the notion of a democratic philosophy with a political process… these are not the same. Open your mind…” May 24, 17:12
agentx on Only An Excuse: “” New Scotland Party: Peter A Bell is going to launch this new party.” —————————————- Oh no – will there…” May 24, 16:51
Young Lochinvar on Only An Excuse: “There is this wee queer Man in a van In parliament on the Greens list Because he’s a tran (also…” May 24, 16:37
factchecker on Only An Excuse: “Absolutely. We have always loved democracy. That must be why the first time all adult Scots had the right to…” May 24, 16:32
sarah on Only An Excuse: “Right then, Rev. Now that you have nailed the truth about the SFA and we are stuck with this dodgy…” May 24, 15:49
Northcode on Only An Excuse: “Here is Point Four in my pattern of points, I’ll summarise it all when I’m done: Four: Moral seriousness wrapped…” May 24, 15:40
Southernbystander on Only An Excuse: “It is both amusing and baffling that one of the main cyphers for the English ‘bastards’ that is a reoccurring…” May 24, 15:20
TimePilot on Only An Excuse: “Readable version https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/green-msp-who-said-they-grew-up-starving-exposed-as-privately-educated-with-privileged-upbringing/ar-AA23UQ4s” May 24, 14:59
Old John on The Queer Parliament: ““He has the face of Heinrich Himmler,but without the warm personality.” Pant pissingly funny and frighteningly prescient and one and…” May 24, 14:50
Northcode on Only An Excuse: “Here is Point Three in my pattern of points: Three: Community — the individual is real… but the community is…” May 24, 14:46
Onlooker on The Queer Parliament: “‘Q’ is a fake, lying, fraud-perpetrating rich spoiled brat? Colour me SHOCKED. Get the bastard out of Holyrood NOW. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/q-manivannan-greens-india-private-school-visa-j7j0357v9” May 24, 14:06
Onlooker on Only An Excuse: “‘Q’ is a fake, lying, fraud-perpetrating rich spoiled brat? Colour me SHOCKED. Get the bastard out of Holyrood NOW. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/q-manivannan-greens-india-private-school-visa-j7j0357v9” May 24, 14:05
Northcode on Only An Excuse: “Indeed, Alf… I’m a big fan of Shirley Manson. A kent a few fowk ance wha attended Broughton High School,…” May 24, 13:48
Northcode on Only An Excuse: ““That human tradition elects to replace the weekly Sabbath with no authority so to do…” Wrong, Sven. God gave humanity…” May 24, 13:43
