FOR people in Scotland, 2014 may be something of a memorable year.
The country was looking forward to its first referendum on independence, a vote which had the potential to end 300 years of political union and create two new countries from the dust.
The date had been set – September 18, 2014 – and the summer was spent in desperate campaigning as both sides took their case to the Scottish people.
But down in Westminster, nobody took any notice.
At least, that’s the impression you would get if you listened to GB News political editor Christopher Hope’s version of events.
The former Telegraph chief political correspondent took to Twitter (sorry, X) on Tuesday to claim that 2023 was the quietest summer of politics in a long, long time.
He wrote: “Westminster has not felt this quiet in the summer holidays since 2014 ...
“2022 Tory leadership crisis, 2021 Afghanistan crisis, 2020 Covid pandemic, 2019 Brexit crisis, 2018 Brexit crisis, 2017 General election fall-out, 2016 EU referendum, 2015 Labour leadership contest, 2014 and relax.”
2014 relax? Over Scottish referendum?
— @Tomorrow'sMPs (@tomorrowsmps) August 22, 2023
Interesting to note that the view of one of Westminster’s most prominent political reporter is that a Labour leadership contest was more significant than a Scottish independence referendum.
Fortunately, the Jouker is not the only one to have spotted Hope’s ludicrous omission.
“The last best hope for the rupture of the Anglo-Scottish Union is perhaps that these people seem to have learnt absolutely nothing,” Pádraig Durnin responded to the GB News host.
“Ah yes, that famously quiet summer of *checks notes* the Scottish independence referendum campaign,” the Scotsman’s Conor Matchett quipped.
And a third user wrote: “I mean, the country did come within a few percentage points of ceasing to exist but ok.”
The last best hope for the rupture of the Anglo-Scottish union is perhaps that these people seem to have learnt absolutely nothing. https://t.co/W9NWH1bmpw
— Pádraig Durnin (@padraigdurnin) August 22, 2023
“‘2014 and relax’ lmfao jesus it's been long enough the hacks have forgotten it even happened,” another wrote, and historian Allan Kennedy added: “The case for Scottish independence in a nutshell.”
Isn’t it just.
While voters across Scotland were engaging with politics and the future of their nation in a way that has rarely been seen before or since, Westminster was apparently memorably quiet.
But if those in the London bubble have forgotten all about the 2014 vote, does that mean it's finally time for Scotland to have another?
