Many Scottish Conservatives, including Ruth Davidson, have given no more than a lukewarm greeting to Boris Johnson’s accession to the UK leadership of their party. Their concerns are understandable; the new prime minister is committed to leaving the EU by October 31, if necessary without a deal.

Scotland voted by nearly two to one in favour of remaining in the EU and shows no sign of having changed its mind. That fact gives the SNP a platform that it can and has used to call for a second independence referendum.

Moreover, polls this year suggest that there may have been some increase in support for independence. Until recently the average level of support for independence in the polls had been averaging at 45 per cent,