Today Boris Johnson decided to reshuffle his lamentable cabinet, providing a convenient distraction from the news that the House of Commons is voting on whether to withdraw the £20-a-week uplift in Universal Credit payments.
Thanks to the votes of Conservative MPs, the poorest families in the UK are almost certain to endure what the anti-poverty think tank the Resolution Foundation has described as the biggest overnight benefits cut in modern history which will reduce the incomes of around one million of the poorest households by 10%. This comes as energy prices are rising and furlough is ending.
No matter how egregious the assault on the poor or the low paid, the Scottish Conservatives will obediently vote to punish the weak, then they will smugly get back to what is really the vitally important work of the Scottish Conservatives, which is policing the moral standards of the cast members of pantomimes in Aberdeen.
The Scottish Tories care more that a comedian has been nasty on Twitter than they do about children going hungry. That all by itself tells you that they are unfit for public office. The fundamental requirement for any politician should be the ability to discern what is genuinely in the public interest. The Tories fail that test repeatedly.
This piece is an excerpt from today's REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.
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