In the decade or so that’s passed since the referendum on independence the scale of the SNP’s betrayal of the wider movement has been breath-taking. Just when you felt that the levels of their dishonesty and bad faith had peaked they found new summits to scale.

Back in 2014 you simply couldn’t have foreseen that the main party of independence would become the main instrument of its destruction. I’d never really been tempted to the theory that the SNP’s higher echelons had been infiltrated by agents of MI5 to ensure that Scotland remained a dutiful and fruitful part of the UK. Arguably, MI5 wouldn’t have been doing its job properly if it hadn’t at least attempted to plant agents inside the movement for Scottish independence.

However, in the years immediately following 2014 it became clear that no elaborate espionage programme was required to undermine independence. The SNP was doing a very good job of that by itself.

It may be a stretch to claim that those chiefly responsible for damaging Scottish independence, such as Nicola Sturgeon and her cult followers, were deliberately working to undermine it. But it’s clear that their actions delivered outcomes that MI5 could only have dreamt of.

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SNP veteran condemns 'charmless' and 'horrible' new Scottish elite

Not satisfied with the resignation of Alex Salmond, I believe senior party officials hatched a strategy to destroy him, ensuring that he could never return. In doing so, they compromised the independence of the civil service. What........

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