In the long list of John Mason’s gaffes, blunders and jaw-dropping interventions in Scottish politics, the Glasgow MSP’s open-armed welcome of the US Supreme Court ruling on abortion must rank number one.
Mason, a committed Christian, is not embarrassed by his view on abortion in the slightest, although the SNP should be.
Worryingly for Nicola Sturgeon’s party, their MSP takes a direct line from the Washington ruling to Scotland.
He suggests that taking the rules over abortion to state level in the USA has a parallel with the Scottish parliament having power over the termination period here.
The law on abortion is not about to change in Scotland, but the politician at the vanguard of the campaign to limit women’s rights is a member of the governing party.
No one doubts Nicola Sturgeon’s commitment to women’s rights or the current Scottish Government’s determination to protect these hard-fought advances.
But that stance is being undermined not just by the historic ruling form the United States, but now by one of their own representatives.
The summit on Abortion Care in Scotland which the First Minister will address today comes in response to growing concerns over the rise in anti-abortion protests outside hospitals and clinics in Scotland.
Mason has said he sees no great need for buffer zones around hospital.
Again that trans-Atlantic intolerance of a woman’s right to choose is given voice by an SNP politician in the Scottish parliament.
The threat to women’s rights stemming from the Supreme Court decision is extremely serious indeed, for women in the USA and Scotland.
It is time for the SNP to consider seriously if it wants to remain harnessed to a politician bringing Donald Trump-inspired culture wars to Scotland.
If the First Minister wants to signal to the world that Scotland will stand for women’s rights she could start by chucking John Mason out of her party.
Prime Minister has lost the plot
The temperature was high in Kigali, the Rwandan capital on the weekend, which is maybe the kindest explanation for Boris Johnson declaring that he is contemplating a third term in government.
The provocation to his own backbenchers is a two-fingered salute from a leader who knows that his time is up but is willing to drag his party down with him.
We are in for a depressing summer of pinball scandal as Johnson pings from one crisis and scandal to another until he is finally flipped out of the game by his own party.
But meanwhile the cost of living crisis goes on for millions and the government remains paralysed to deal with it.
We can ill afford Boris Johnson and the Tory party’s political arcade game when real life politics is so serious.
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