BORIS Johnson’s premiership disintegrated in chaos last week as 59 Government ministers and aides resigned.

Politicians and commentators blamed this catastrophic breakdown of trust on the Prime Minister’s own self-interest and lack of integrity, paradoxically the same characteristics that swept him to power on the back of the delusional ‘take back control’ prospectus of ‘getting Brexit done’. This led former Tory Brexit Minister David Davis to demand of Johnson in January: “In the name of God, go.”

The turmoil allows perspectives which I believe will be widely shared in East Lothian, where 65 per cent of voters rejected Johnson’s Brexit fantasy in 2016.

Instead of accountable and transparent politics addressing urgent economic and social issues, Westminster is now contemplating months of personality-driven Tory power struggles. As my colleague Stuart Hosie MP said: in this drama, Scotland is simply a spectator. We didn’t vote for any of it, but the fallout could damage Scotland for generations.

Voters in ‘Red Wall’ and ‘Blue Wall’ seats delivered a huge first-past-the-post Westminster Tory majority, yet political incompetence and infighting means Northern Ireland risks the consequences of illegally tearing up the Brexit protocol, breaking an international treaty and trashing the UK’s global reputation so prized by those who rejected independence in 2014. Perceptions have now changed. A Scottish Social Attitudes survey (August 2019 to March 2020) showed that public trust in the Scottish Government to act in Scotland’s interests was four times higher than trust in the UK Government.

Tellingly, the Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland and Wales resigned from Johnson’s Cabinet, but Scotland’s Alister Jack didn’t. It fell to Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Tom Tugendhat MP to remind Johnson of global security challenges facing Sweden, Finland, the UK and, specifically, Scotland.

Last week, Boris Johnson told the First Minister “now is not the time” for us to decide our own future; next day, the humiliated PM was forced from office. Now is exactly the time for Scotland to rebuild trust with the EU and other partners, using our own independent, international voice.