Some might say it was a good trade: George Osborne sent to Edinburgh while London got Scotland’s impressive Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Yesterday the Chancellor was lecturing those north of Hadrian’s Wall that they couldn’t keep the British pound if they voted for independence — a speech described as bullying by the Scottish National Party. Sturgeon, meanwhile, was speaking at University College London. She pointed out that two of UCL’s founding fathers, “the poet Thomas Campbell and the lawyer and MP Henry Brougham, were Scots” and that when UCL was founded in 1826, “it became only the third university in England, whereas by then Scotland had five”.
But then Sturgeon turned on the charm, calling London “wonderful — one of the great global centres of human culture, industry and achievement”. She didn’t think much of Business Secretary Vince Cable describing London “rather unkindly” as a huge suction machine draining the life out of the rest of the country. “I want Scotland to seek to emulate not resent the best you have to offer.”
Bet Osborne wishes he had her speechwriter.
