Salmond – the new Livingstone?

It is difficult for me to comment as an Englishman, but there is a good article by Tom Gallagher in Open Democracy on the SNP’s attempt to co-opt the Muslim vote in Scotland, which has an all too familiar feel to it

Gallagher contrasts a perfunctory commendation for John Smeaton with more fulsome praise of the Muslim community and highlights the leading role of the Muslim Association of Britain’s Osama Saeed in a rally held on June 6^th. According to Gallagher, Saeed ‘called for an enquiry into the root causes of terrorism in Britain and appeared confident that the finger of blame would be pointed at departing prime minister Tony Blair, who was condemned at the rally more often than any bomb-carrying doctor’.

Gallagher is sharply critical of Salmond’s opportunism (he was opposed to intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo to aid European Muslims), and identifies his strategy as one of ‘projecting himself to religious minorities previously loyal to the Labour party’.

Sounds familiar? Gallagher doesn’t miss the parallel either.

‘A separate Scotland could turn out to be a modern, efficient state that harnesses the energies of its people, including those achievers who previously had to go abroad to make their mark in the world; or it could be a kind of leftist London authority on a larger canvas’.

It is worth reading the whole article here.