NICOLA Sturgeon has received support from an unlikely source – a former Daily Mail journalist who once wrote a story about her headlined "The Most Dangerous Woman In Britain".
The First Minister standing up for Scotland on Brexit is impressing even those south of the Border, it seems, and it speaks volumes about the state of Westminster.
Back in April 2015, a month ahead of that year's General Election, Daily Mail political editor James Chapman saw an SNP landslide in Scotland coming – the post-indyref wave was a very real thing.
So, he got his Union Jack coat on, and out came a Daily Mail scare story (at least, scary for their readers).
On the front page, it read: "As crowds hail her 'Queen of Scots' after TV triumph, Sturgeon tells Red Ed: We'll call the shots!"
Now, it's worth noting that Chapman won't have been responsible for that, or for any of the headlines.
But it was his article presenting Sturgeon's rise as a threat to the Union above all else.
Well, the journalist has had a change of heart now, as Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May continue to show their incompetence on Brexit.
The First Minister had tweeted: "The one thing missing from that pointless PM speech was any acknowledgment of the massive responsibility she bears for this mess. She could have changed course after the first defeat of her deal. But she is still trying to force a choice between a bad deal and no deal. Shameful"
That prompted Chapman to tweet: "I once wrote a front page story about @NicolaSturgeon during the Scottish indyref campaign with the headline 'The Most Dangerous Woman in Britain'. It was nonsense at the time, of course, but now, to my surprise, I have to acknowledge that she is probably the most sensible."
To be clear, as some people misunderstood, it was the headline on the story that in retrospect was clearly ridiculous and hyperbolic, rather than the copy. Newspaper journalists don’t write headlines or place stories on the page. Here is the whole thing pic.twitter.com/UOusXJxn0I
— James Chapman (@jameschappers) 21 March 2019
He's far from the first to notice the more thoughtful approach of Holyrood on Brexit to the childish chaos at Westminster.
The damage Brexit will do to Scotland in particular is clear, and this adult approach is making obvious that wanting free of the shambolic Union is the ever-more sensible option.
And if it's being noticed this blatantly in England, just think how Scots are feeling...
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