Envy is a Terrible Thing

Seeing photos this week of David Davis and Alex Salmond together in happier times reminded Calton of something we seem to have lost, in Scotland at any rate. Gone are the days when politicians of opposing parties knocked seven bells out of each other in the House and then met for a pint afterwards. Gone is respect and admiration and, in some instances, genuine friendship between political opponents. Gone is agreeing to disagree. Instead we have Nicola Sturgeon who quite clearly hates, loathes and despises the leaders of the other parties. There is no mutual respect or friendship there, which is why the lift sketch featuring Sturgeon and Davidson was so cringe-worthy. During an election debate Sturgeon didn't hesitate to drop Dugdale in it by revealing a private conversation on national TV. Political advantage trumps personal loyalty and general decency every time with Nicola. She doesn't even bother trying to conceal her dislike of Willie Rennie even although the two of them share common ground on the EU.

Most telling of all is the way in which the First Minister has not only dumped but tried to destroy her mentor Alex Salmond. Her reasons for doing this have never been very clear, especially if we are to believe that he was her friend, however the whole thing becomes more plausible if, in fact, the friendship was all on Salmond's side and Sturgeon was just using him as a stepping-stone to the top. A genuine friend would have been happy with his aquittal. Instead, Sturgeon keeps casting doubts on it even as she says she accepts it.

Nicola Sturgeon has lots of slavish followers but seems to have few friends, all of whom are in her own party. She is trying to rubbish the Westminster intervention by David Davis this week by characterising it as the "old boys club", knowing the friendship that exists between Davis and Salmond. Envy is a terrible thing. Sturgeon has also made a big mistake in trying to smear Davis. David Davis MP is a man of principle and a well-respected politician. Calling him "shifty" just makes her look bad, especially after her evasive answers to many of the questions put to her by the Parliamentary Committee recently. It was an ill-judged act of desperation from a woman who is losing the trust of the Scottish people. If recent polls are right and she fails to get a majority in May, she will have very few friends supporting her after the election and she will only have herself to blame.