John Major is another of those voices from the past that occasionally intervene in the referendum debate. Like Alistair Darling, Gordon Brown and so many more it is a voice that talks not only from a bygone age, but of it. Every time one of these people open their mouths its as if youve tuned into a radio broadcast from 30 or 40 years ago. None of them have learned anything new since their brief spell in the limelight. Why would they? Imagining things remain as they were in that moment when they had some significance is the only way they can continue to feel significant. We, of course, are supposed to be impressed. The words former Prime Minister are presumed to conjure the impression of a wise elder statesman. A member of an elite group of sages who stand aloof, observing the doings of lesser mortals, pondering the great issues of the day, ready to be reluctantly drawn into allowing us access to their sapience. The reality is more like the elderly relative who had a trial for some well-known football team in 1959 and hasnt quite managed to move on from that high point in his life. He now starts almost every sentence with the words, When I played for Spurs.... The instant of his celebrity has become a permanently fixed point of reference in his world to which all else must relate. The comment about Spain illustrates just how out of touch Major is. It is typical of the kind of shallow, cursory thinking around the Scottish issue that prevailed in the days when Major was just distinguishable from the wallpaper in the British states halls of power. The days before Scotland forced itself into the forefront of British politics and demanded serious consideration. It lazily lumps all separatist movements together into a single homogeneous category and just as lazily assumes that the British states attitude to such movements is the exemplar for all other states. It takes no account of the very significant differences in the historical development of independence movements, or the fact that the constitutional circumstances are unique to each. In the good old days it was enough to know that there were separatists, and there were proper nations. The latter being so proper that the former could safely be dismissed. The reality is that the Spanish government is at pains to insist that Scotlands situation has no relevance to either the Basque country or Catalonia. Its not difficult to see the sense of this position. If the Spanish government allows that there is some direct parallel between Scotland and, say, Catalonia then any success for Scotlands independence movement would strengthen the Catalonian case. Having no guarantee that the British state will prevail, Madrid must keep open the option of saying that the result is meaningless in the Spanish context. Similarly, if they cannot be absolutely certain that Scotland can be excluded from the EU then they will not want the possibility that Scotlands continuing membership could be taken as having positive implications for Catalonia. Being realistic, they know that there is no process by which Scotland can be excluded so it is better for them not to fail in an effort that would inevitably be interpreted as implying a meaningful link between the two independence movements. John Majors sparse thinking on such matters was probably adequate for his time. But his time has long since passed.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 08:41:36 +0000
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