Politics - Michael Gove
Last week we had the (almost) hysterical spectacle of
Michael Gove, in the House of Commons, calling the SNP the Scottish
Nationalist Party - when it is actually called the Scottish NATIONAL
Party. Several SNP MPs immediately corrected him by calling out
"national, national".
Instead of retracting his
error, Gove went on attack and insisted they were nationalists - in what
was clearly intended to be an insult.
Does Gove
not recognise the irony (or maybe the hypocrisy) of his words? I suspect
he was fully aware but that this was just another example of a
politician twisting facts to suit a personal and political point.
As
a leading light of the pro Brexit movement, Gove was a major figure in
what was the UK nationalist movement (or, more accurately, the English
and Welsh nationalist movement). To accuse the SNP of being
nationalists, in such a derogatory way, is pretty rich given that his
nationalism is far deeper than the SNP's!
To be
clear, this UK government, including Gove, is seeking to divorce the UK
from our European neighbors by as much as they possibly can (which could
be quite a lot) - while the SNP seek, after gaining independence, to
rejoin the EU. Who, given that information, can fail to see that the
real 'nationalist' is Gove along with all the members of Johnson's
government?
There are many, I accept, who query the
SNP seeking independence while, at the same time, also seeking to
rejoin an even bigger union than the UK ever was. In a recent interview
Nicola Sturgeon made the SNP's position in this very clear. During the
Brexit process the UK government totally ignored Scotland's view and
needs in this process. The Scottish government came forward with several
proposals which were intended to reduce the very negative aspects for
Scotland that Brexit was likely to bring about - but all of these were
rejected out of hand. On the other hand, the EU fully supported the
Republic of Ireland in trying to prevent the return of a hard border
between it and the north. Some unions work with consideration and
respect for all it's members - while others only operate with self
interest and arrogance towards it's smaller members. It's pretty clear
to me which union provides a fairer union and which one would be best to
avoid (or, in this case, escape from).
As mentioned in a previous post, I am no great fan of the EU and I'd rather an independent Scotland joined EFTA - but given the choice of only the UK or the EU then the EU is clearly a better option for Scotland. It is also quite clear that Michael Gove is more of a nationalist than the SNP is.
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