THE current raft of Tory leadership contenders are a gift to the Scottish independence cause as they are all cut from the same cloth as Boris Johnson.
It’s no surprise that in the first run of Sunday's broadcast media rounds following Johnson’s resignation that Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt tied themselves to the Unionist mast and claimed that they wouldn’t allow a referendum for a decade.
Meanwhile, Tom Tugendhat refused to say if he would grant a Section 30 order in the event he becomes PM.
READ MORE: Tory leadership contest - The top candidates scandals revealed
It would be more shocking if any of the candidates came out in favour of democracy. Rishi Sunak has previously criticised Nicola Sturgeon for focussing on indyref2 instead of the cost of living crisis, and didn’t quite get the irony, considering he had to be forced into bringing in a windfall tax to tackle soaring bills.
Liz Truss also railed against the SNP’s “obsession” in 2017. Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has previously described a Yes vote in a Scottish independence referendum as a “catastrophically poor choice” and “silly” while Penny Mordaunt has been described as being “strong on the Union” by Scots Tory MP John Lamont.
Grant Shapps, Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch have not yet made statements on indyref2 yet, but it doesn’t take much of a stretch of the imagination to see where they will sit.
Part of Johnson’s lasting legacy, scandals aside, will be the extent to which he pulled the Tory party to the populist right.
None of the contenders have shown any great difference from the current caretaker PM, except with most of them pitched against Sunak when it comes to tax - as was Johnson.
There are no plans to change the disturbing policy to ship refugees to Rwanda, multiple candidates have hit out at “woke culture”, and as we have covered extensively in today’s National - almost all have been involved in one scandal or another.
Johnson filled Whitehall with sub-par talent in a bid to keep himself in the top job, and now he’s reportedly on his way out, we’re left with a rogues gallery of MPs, and no stand-out candidate.
READ MORE: Professor John Curtice says Scottish independence won't be hurt by resignation of Boris Johnson
The public won’t have a say in who our next PM is, but at least we can know what to expect in Westminster - more of the same. The myth being peddled by the unionist media that Johnson’s resignation will harm the independence cause, that it will somehow collapse now he is out of office, is simply wrong.
The problem is that in Westminster, whether it’s a blue PM or a red PM, Scots are consistently left out in the cold, our needs ignored.
Scotland will have a better chance with independence than being ruled by a group of elites who would throw democracy under the bus for a punt at power.
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