HE came. He saw. He left again. The Prime Minister of the (dis)United Kingdom arrived in Scotland for a whistle-stop propaganda visit, had his picture taken with a couple of crabs, and went back home to London. In a panicked response to rising majority support for Scottish independence, the Tory leader illustrated perfectly what is wrong with the Union and why its days are numbered.

Boris Johnson’s day trip reminded voters in Scotland he is a Prime Minister they didn’t vote for, heading a party that hasn’t won an election in Scotland since 1955 and is delivering a Brexit they oppose. No wonder a majority now supports Scottish independence.

Things have got so bad for the planners at 10 Downing Street that they have to arrange Prime Ministerial visits to Scotland which involve him meeting as few Scots as possible.

He is transported into hermetically sealed military bases, distilleries surrounded by wire fences, controlled factory visits, or a pre-arranged photo shoot on a fishing boat – all to minimise the risk of an embarrassing PR disaster of facing the opprobrium of the Scottish public.

Johnson’s press stop for recording TV comments had to take place on a sealed road in Orkney. Despite this he was met in both Orkney and Moray by booing protesters.

This all underlines the unpopularity of the UK Prime Minister north of the Border, and the growing sense that the legitimacy of London rule is ebbing away and Scottish independence is coming.

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UK network broadcasters decamped to Scotland for the day with the Prime Minister and sought explanations for what is going on.

If you haven’t yet seen it, watch the interview with Sir Geoff Palmer an emeritus professor at Heriot-Watt University. The Jamaican-Scot, who is one of the country’s foremost human rights campaigners, says:

“I see one of the natural progressions of all nations and people that eventually one day they will start to think about wanting to manage their own affairs … it’s about a group of people, of which I am a part. I mean Scotland is a diverse society, we regard ourself as one Scotland and I think this is the debate and that the public should decide. We have a thing called public opinion and when that in indicates that the public wants something I think we should do it.”

Asked by Chanel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy whether there was an inevitability to Scottish independence he said: “Inevitability doesn’t come into politics … politics is about what seems best at the time and, just as Jamaica got independence after 300 years, I’m sure Scotland will decide one way or the other when the time comes and when the public wants it. I think that Scotland will do what the public wants.”

In the middle of a coronavirus crisis, Boris Johnson decided to politicise the pandemic with petty attacks on the First Minister, telling Tory activists he would not meet Nicola Sturgeon at Bute House. Imagine the discourtesy of a British Prime Minister suggesting he wouldn’t show another head of government the respect of accepting their hospitality at their official residence. It beggars belief in its pettiness. What a little, small, pathetic man.

In recent days, we have been reminded of Boris Johnson’s views about Scotland, including his own past assessment about his links to Edinburgh and Scotland. “Well, very feeble and tenuous” he told STV.

As a magazine editor, he was prepared to print the following lines: “The Scotch – what a verminous race! Suppress the tartan dwarves … It’s time Hadrian’s Wall was refortified. To pen them in a ghetto on the other side. I would go further. The nation deserves not merely isolation but comprehensive extermination. We must not flinch from a solution.”

Boris Johnson has said he believes it would be “outrageous” to have a Scot as prime minister, that Westminster is “Uncle Sugar” and that Scotland can “hop it” when it comes to funding devolution.

This is the man who is about to rush through power-grab legislation at Westminster which will impose the consequences of his damaging Tory Brexit agenda on a Scotland that voted to remain in the European Union.

Support for Scottish independence is now supported by a majority in Scotland, the First Minister has a 99 (99!) point lead over the Prime Minster, and after 13 years in power the Scottish National Party is more popular than all UK parties put together. As things currently stand the SNP are set to win almost every constituency in next year’s Scottish Parliament election and, together with SNP list MSPs, secure an SNP majority at Holyrood for an independence referendum.

Hopefully Boris Johnson will come back to Scotland more often. He is the best recruiting sergeant the independence cause has ever had.