MacIver wrote:That whole anti-Scottish backlash before/during Browns term pushed me over the edge and made me a quite ardent nationalist for a couple of years (before flip-flopping to my current position of undecided on the whole bloody thing).

What really pissed me off was that there was no backlash against Blair.

"Scots are fine as long as they don't sound like Scots!"

I think Blair being an MP of an English constituency made a big difference.

If Brown had been an English MP with a Scots accent, he would have had much less anti-Scottish shite thrown at him.

Emmeline wrote:

MacIver wrote:That whole anti-Scottish backlash before/during Browns term pushed me over the edge and made me a quite ardent nationalist for a couple of years (before flip-flopping to my current position of undecided on the whole bloody thing).

What really pissed me off was that there was no backlash against Blair.

"Scots are fine as long as they don't sound like Scots!"

I think Blair being an MP of an English constituency made a big difference.

If Brown had been an English MP with a Scots accent, he would have had much less anti-Scottish shite thrown at him.

I think Ron hit the nail on the head when he said Blair considered himself English. Maybe there's an unspoken rule that PM's must be English, in the same way that Presidents in the US have to be Christian.

Blair was typical of his class in Edinburgh. He was a boarder at Fettes College. The Scottish Eton.
Fettonians are encouraged to lose their Scottish accent.

Do you still have your Scottish accent?

Blair left as Scotland when he was a very small child, spent most of his childhood in Durham. He wouldn't have had a Scottish accent to lose.

And I doubt Scot has one either, loathing the Scots as he does.

Scarlett wrote:Blair left as Scotland when he was a very small child, spent most of his childhood in Durham. He wouldn't have had a Scottish accent to lose.

And I doubt Scot has one either, loathing the Scots as he does.

I was thinking that too, Blair wouldn't have had a Scottish accent. Going by wikipedia, he only lived in Edinburgh for his first 19 months.

Scarlett wrote:

Emmeline wrote:

MacIver wrote:That whole anti-Scottish backlash before/during Browns term pushed me over the edge and made me a quite ardent nationalist for a couple of years (before flip-flopping to my current position of undecided on the whole bloody thing).

What really pissed me off was that there was no backlash against Blair.

"Scots are fine as long as they don't sound like Scots!"

I think Blair being an MP of an English constituency made a big difference.

If Brown had been an English MP with a Scots accent, he would have had much less anti-Scottish shite thrown at him.

I think Ron hit the nail on the head when he said Blair considered himself English. Maybe there's an unspoken rule that PM's must be English, in the same way that Presidents in the US have to be Christian.

Yes I think that could be right.

Why would so many be fearful of a Scottish PM? I really can't think of a valid reasoning behind this.
I also wonder if the 59% figure would have risen post indyref. It certainly seems to have stirred up some real suspicion and mistrust in some areas down South.

Scarlett wrote:Why would so many be fearful of a Scottish PM? I really can't think of a valid reasoning behind this.

Surely you can see how unfair it is that Scottish MPs should be able to influence policies in England? Poor put-upon England, with it's democratic deficit. Tail wagging dog, etc.

/daily-mail-mode


With EVEL, it's unlikely a UK party would ever choose a Scottish (or Welsh or NI) MP for major positions of state. Polly Toynbee accidentally revealed this last year on Sunday Politics with Andrew Neil, saying with more devolution and after the referendum there's no way Scots could hold major office. Lovely.

ronmcd wrote:

Scarlett wrote:Why would so many be fearful of a Scottish PM? I really can't think of a valid reasoning behind this.

Surely you can see how unfair it is that Scottish MPs should be able to influence policies in England? Poor put-upon England, with it's democratic deficit. Tail wagging dog, etc.

/daily-mail-mode


With EVEL, it's unlikely a UK party would ever choose a Scottish (or Welsh or NI) MP for major positions of state. Polly Toynbee accidentally revealed this last year on Sunday Politics with Andrew Neil, saying with more devolution and after the referendum there's no way Scots could hold major office. Lovely.

Gargh! Just let us bloody go then, there's fuck all 'British' about that is there?

I like a lot of her stuff but I'm not sure that polly toynbee is actually in position to 'reveal' anything about the appointments of all future governments. And explicitly saying her opinion on TV isn't really an 'accident', it's sort of the whole reason she was there, isn't it?

ED209 wrote:I like a lot of her stuff but I'm not sure that polly toynbee is actually in position to 'reveal' anything about the appointments of all future governments. And explicitly saying her opinion on TV isn't really an 'accident', it's sort of the whole reason she was there, isn't it?

That's a fair point, I wouldn't be at all surprised if she was spot on though.

I can see Polly Toynbee might be correct about Scottish/Welsh/NI politicians not being chosen as leaders of parties who might become PM, but don't agree that such an (English) party leader wouldn't continue to choose leading Scottish/Welsh/NI MPs for leading ministerial roles, especially if they have obvious to everyone relevant specialist knowledge.

Scarlett wrote:Maybe there's an unspoken rule that PM's must be English, in the same way that Presidents in the US have to be Christian.

There was Ramsay Macdonald. A while ago, I know.

And Gordon Brown, no?

Yes, but he wasn't elected as PM, which I think was the point.

Keep It Real wrote:And Gordon Brown, no?

He wasn't elected though.

Emmeline wrote:

Keep It Real wrote:And Gordon Brown, no?

He wasn't elected though.

And also Gordon Brown became PM before the increased powers of the Scottish Parliament made this such a controversial point, although of course there have been some discussions about 'The West Lothian Question' for a long time.

Emmeline wrote:

Keep It Real wrote:And Gordon Brown, no?

He wasn't elected though.

And come to think of it, neither was that other well-known scotsman ( ) david cameron. A scotsman can't even get elected over another scotsman!